The Lee University softball team, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, improved its winning streak to 25 games before Shorter College snapped it with a 7-3 defeat in the second game of their Southern States Athletic Conference doubleheader Tuesday in Cleveland.
The Lady Flames (43-4, 24-2) won the first game 4-3 on Danielle Balough’s one-out bases-loaded single in the eighth inning.
Johana Gomez, the reigning SSAC player of the week, improved her pitching record to 22-1 in relief of Brittany Balough in the first game, after the 19th-ranked Lady Hawks (34-12, 16-9) wiped out a 3-1 deficit. All 19 hits in the game were singles, with Savanna Bell, Taylor Horseman and Danielle Balough getting two apiece for Lee and Dandi Ammons collecting three and batting in two runs for Shorter.
Shorter leadoff batter Charlsie Broome had two hits and just missed another when Bell ran down her liner to right center with runners on third and second base in the third inning. Gomez scored twice in Lee’s win, and Ruiz had a two-run homer in game two, before Shorter got two unearned runs in each of the fifth and seventh innings.
Brittany Balough (12-2) took the loss in relief of Gomez, who allowed three unearned runs in her six innings. Gomez and Krista Goodlet had two hits each. Adams, Emily Clements and Hannah Strength had two apiece for Shorter.
* Chattanooga State 4-12, Walters State 2-0: At Morristown, Laura Curtis had a two-run homer in the first game and went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer and five total RBIs in game two as the NJCAA’s 13th-ranked Lady Tigers improved to 45-10, 16-0 in the TCCAA.
Haley Workman and Kendall Bruning took turns getting their 22nd pitching wins of the season, Workman with 10 strikeouts and Bruning with a five-inning two-hitter, and each homered in the game she pitched. Tabitha McNew and Kaela Jackson were a combined 5-for-5 with three runs apiece in game two, when Alex Buffington was 2-for-3 with two runs.
The Lady Tigers will play seventh-ranked Wallace State of Hanceville, Ala., in a Thursday doubleheader in Fyffe, Ala., beginning at 5 p.m. EDT.
* Covenant 8-0, Union College 4-2: At Barbourville, Ky., Covenant extended its win streak to four games before the AAC’s fourth-place team scratched out two unearned runs for the second-game win. Beth Harris was 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs, Courtney Wagoner had a two-run homer and Christine Core and Kim Cuticchia each was 2-for-4 and scored two runs to back Chelsea Krafft’s pitching in the opener for the Lady Scots (4-24, 4-8). Sonja Townsend allowed only six Union hits in the rematch, but Covenant had only one hit.
Flames shade TWC
The sixth-ranked Lee baseball team overcame visiting Tennessee Wesleyan 9-6 on Tuesday after letting a 5-1 lead dissolve into a 6-5 deficit.
Trey Burstrom’s two-run home run in the seventh inning put the Flames back ahead, and Michael Brown had two RBIs in the eighth. JJ Costantino doubled among three hits and Edgar Molina also had three for Lee, which got two doubles from Junior Rodriguez and a double and a single from Jose Cuevas.
Brown had two hits and scored twice and robbed TWC’s Rafael Carlot of a homer in the second inning. Andrew Tharp doubled and singled for the Bulldogs.
* Maryville 15, Covenant 12: At Maryville, the 19-11 hosts won the battle of Scots as Jamey Davis hit grand slams in the sixth and seventh innings. Taylor Oldham homered, singled and drove in three runs for Covenant (14-13), and James Rollins was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Jonathan Carter also had three RBIs in defeat, and Brandon Hagopian was 3-for-6. Harrison Fisher and Jared Carlson each scored three runs.
* Young Harris 9, Cleveland State 4: At Young Harris, Ga., Brett Armour and Michael Squires had three hits apiece for the host Mountain Lions (31-11), and Armour and Matt Lowery each had two RBIs. Ryan Casteel hit a two-run homer and singled for Cleveland State (26-14), and Cody Ferrell had two hits also.
Covenant golfers 13th
In the Emory Spring Invitational golf tournament Monday and Tuesday at Stone Mountain, Ga., Covenant College finished 13th at 646 and Sewanee was 16th out of 17 teams at 691. Greensboro College won with a 602.
Birmingham-Southern’s Nick Blakely from Ooltewah tied for 13th individually at 153, and LaGrange’s Hudson Keener from Dalton tied for 17th at 154. Covenant’s David Spencer tied for 35th at 158; teammates Dave Wilkinson and Anthony Sligh also made the top 50 at 161.
In a seven-team women’s tournament at the Prattville (Ala.) Country Club, Covenant’s Jordan Agate finished seventh and missed all-tournament recognition by two strokes.