YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. — Slugging four home runs in Saturday's opening game, the Flagler College softball team won the first in six innings, 13-2, before Young Harris College took the second, 7-5, to secure the three-game Peach Belt Conference series win at the YHC Softball Field.
The Saints move to 19-16 and 5-7 in conference play, while the Mountain Lions improve to 16-15 and 7-8 in the PBC. Flagler will now turn its attention to a non-conference doubleheader at Embry-Riddle Tuesday, beginning at 4 p.m.
GAME ONE
Flagler used big-run innings — seven coming in the second inning and five in the sixth frame — to take control of the first game Saturday. The seven-run second was jumpstarted by a pair of bases-loaded fielder's choice balls to score two before
Madelyn Childs doubled in a run and
Alyssa Velez homered in back-to-back games to make it 6-0 Flagler and end Jill Dixon's day in the circle. With new pitcher Sam Davis up,
Olivia Parker ended the inning with a double as
Kyleigh Taylor scored on a fielding error by the center fielder.
Young Harris cut into the lead with a two-run shot from Grace Young in the third, but those are the only two runs the Mountain Lions would see. The Saints homered three more times thanks to
Gianna Amundsen's first collegiate home run in her first-ever start at third base, Childs' solo blast and Parker's first grand slam and second homer of the season to cap the 13-run, 13-hit win.
Childs and Velez led the Saints with a trio of hits, while
Ari Bosch and Parker had two. Velez's homer moved her to a team second-best six on the year, while Childs is fourth with her four. Taylor,
Trinity Fry and Amundsen each added one hit.
Rachel Hester (W, 9-6) held down the circle with six innings of work and only two runs allowed on six hits.
GAME TWO
Each time the Saints scored, the Mountain Lions answered the bell. After Young Harris answered four runs plated by Flagler by the end of the third, the Saints were unable to score until the top of the seventh.
By then, Young Harris held a three-run lead as the game-winning run came in the fourth inning — via a Shea Bayreuther home run – against reliever
Taylor Scott (L, 4-5). It was a deficit the Saints were unable to match as Kylie Ferguson (W, 5-4) cooled down the bats and limited Flagler to two hits over the last four innings.
The attempted come-from-behind rally was cut short in the seventh after Childs' single began the inning, resulting in her pinch runner
Courtney Robinson scoring off Taylor's two-out RBI single to come within two runs.
Amundsen was responsible for two RBI in the three-run third inning as her single brought Parker (walk) and Taylor (fielder's choice) home, following Fry's RBI single to score Velez (single). In the second, Fry scored the game's first after a fielding error by the third baseman.
With two hits and a pair of RBI, Amundsen was the lone Saint with two hits as Parker led Flagler with a trio of walks. Fry, Bosch, Childs, Velez and Taylor contributed a single apeice.
Madelyn Wise started the game in the circle, going two innings alike Scott and Hester.
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