GULF SHORES, Ala. – Flagler College (3-4) opened the Gulf Shores invitational with a 4-0 loss at the hands of Spring Hill College (1-1) on Friday night despite a stellar pitching performance from Tinsley Smith at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.
 
Spring Hill jumped out to a 4-0 lead after an inning of play and both teams were held scoreless the remainder of the game. Madeline Burchell, Randi DeArmitt, and Lauren Stewart each picked up an RBI. Burchell singled home Kali Clement before scoring on DeArmitt's single to center. Stewart capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly scoring Mary Glass on the play.
 
Smith entered the contest in the first frame and tossed 5.2 innings of scoreless ball. She allowed just two hits and struck out six batters with just one walk.
 
Flagler collected two hits on the evening to Spring Hill's six hits. Whitney Woodard reached on a bunt single in the third for the Saints and Mallory Allen doubled in the seventh inning.
 
Caroline Sagrera (1-1) earned the win for Spring Hill, throwing five innings of work and allowing just one hit. Callie Reed (3-1) took the loss for Flagler as she surrendered four runs over one-third of an inning of work.
 
The Saints will play twice tomorrow, Saturday (Feb. 6) during day two of the invitational. The team will face the University of West Alabama at 10:30 a.m. before squaring off against the University of West Florida at 2:30 p.m. Flagler will finish the invitational with two final contests on Sunday.