Lady Flames drop series to AUM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. –The Lee University softball team dropped both games of the double header to host Auburn University 5-1 and 10-7 on Saturday afternoon. With the losses, Lee fell to 10-8 and 2-6 in Gulf South Conference play.

Game 1

Five errors hurt Lee in the 5-1 loss. AUM got on the board first after an error by Alexa Scalzo to make it 1-0 after the first inning. AUM added three more runs in the bottom of the third. The Warhawks used three hits, two hit by pitches, and a walk to score the three runs.

Lee got on the board in the fifth when Hayden Gardner drove home Javaria Smith to give Lee their only run of the game. AUM’s final run came on a sacrifice fly and throwing error by Hailey Simco in left field.

Lee only struck out three times in the loss, but only managed four hits as well. No one had more than one hit for the Lady Flames.

Madison Barnett took the loss for Lee to fall to 1-5 on the season. She threw all six innings and gave up six hit. She allowed five runs but only three were earned. She also walked two and struck out two.

Game 2

Lee led it 6-1 in the third before a late rally gave AUM the win. The Warhawks scored first with three hits and wild pitch in the first inning to take the 1-0 lead.

Lee scored four runs in the top of the second. Ana Macha drove in Rylie Goodridge to tie the game. Ava Perkins also scored on the play to give Lee the lead. Scalzo brought Macha and Kaelin Ault in for the final two runs of the inning with a double.

The Lady Flames added two more runs in the third as Perkins brought Smith in, and then Goodridge scored on a wild pitch.

AUM tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. They had four hits, a walk and an error to plate five runs and tie the game at 6-6. Lee’s final run came in the top of the fifth when Macha reached safely on an error from the pitcher. On the same play, Perkins came in tow score on an error by the third baseman for the Warhawks.

AUM scored the final four runs in the bottom of the fifth as they had four hits and a walk to score the four runs and take the game 10-7.

Lee had seven hits in the loss with seven different players collecting hits. Scalzo and Mach each had two RBI in the game.

Natalie Pruitt-Geesey got the start and went four innigns and gave up six runs on eight hits. Layne Bailey had her second loss of the season with four runs on five hits in two innings.

Lee will return home to host Shorter University on Wednesday, February 5 at Butler Field.

Coach Emily Russell’s Thoughts:

“I’m proud of the adjustments we made offensively in game three. We need to make those sooner in the series. We pitched pretty well this weekend and gave us a chance in all 3 games to win. Defensively there are a lot of things we need to clean up to alleviate so many high leverage situations. I think we can make those adjustments this week and be more prepared next weekend."