Beginning its 2016 softball season after third-place national finishes in 2014 and 2015, eighth-ranked Chattanooga State lost two of three games Friday at the Creek Indian Juco Classic at Atmore, Ala. The freshman-loaded Lady Tigers are playing seven games in three days there.
Chattanooga State won 7-1 over Faulkner State behind pitcher Morgan Boggess but lost 8-7 to Mississippi Gulf Coast after leading 6-0 and then fell 8-0 in five innings to Navarro of Texas. Gulf Coast's winning run came home on a bases-loaded walk, after an error on a two-run triple got it another run in the sixth.
Courtney Styles, one of only two returning starters for the Lady Tigers, homered, tripled and singled in the win and homered and singled in game two. She walked twice against Navarro.
Lee splits two
As the Gulf Coast Invitational began Friday at Gulf Shores, Ala., Lee University won in five innings with double-digit runs for the third game in a row, 11-3 over Miles College, but then lost 5-4 to Midwestern State.
Emily Dagnan was 2-for-2 and batted in four runs in the win for Lee (3-2), when Hallie Davis also had four RBIs, three on a homer. Leadoff batter Amanda Lynn was 1-for-1 with two walks and scored three times, and Lexie Dean was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run. Pitcher Brianna Eichbaum (1-0) allowed three hits and three unearned runs in her four innings.
Lynn had two hits and scored a run but was stranded on second in the last inning of the Lady Flames' loss, when Angie Hughes struck out 12 Midwestern batters but also walked five and gave up seven hits.