Thu, May 5, 2011 - [Softball]
HENDERSON, Tenn. - The Freed-Hardeman Lady Lions lost a heartbreaker in their opening game of the TranSouth Conference Softball Championships, then staved off elimination on a walk-off single by Amber Vansandt to stay alive for another day.
FHU lost in nine innings to Lyon (Ark.) College, 2-1, in the morning and bounced back with a 7-6 win over Blue Mountain (Miss.) College in the last game of the day, which did not end until 11:30 p.m.
The opening game for the Lady Lions turned into a pitchers' duel between Sarah Elizabeth Cousar and Lyon's Hannah Pinegar. Both pitchers allowed only one run in the first seven innings, and both pitched out of a few jams along the way.
The extra innings were oddly similar between the teams. Both Lyon and FHU put two runners on with no outs in the eighth inning only to leave them stranded on the bases. FHU had runners on the corners after a Vansandt double and a Yates bunt single but left the winning run 60 feet from home.
In the ninth inning, the leadoff hitters for both teams singled. The only difference was that Lyon's came around to score on a single to left field, while FHU's was gunned down at the plate on a single to nearly the exact same spot.
Kristi Kelley's two-out single scored Cassie Wolfe from second base to give the Scots a 2-1 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Vansandt singled to left field but Morgan was cut down at the plate after a perfect throw from Lyon left fielder Kristan Inman.
In the elimination game, FHU scored in the sixth and seventh innings to come back from a 6-5 deficit to stay alive thanks to Vansandt's walk-off single that scored Cousar from second.
The game was tied at 4-4 after two innings and stayed that way until FHU got a run in the fourth on an RBI double by Brittany Yates. But BMC stroked four singles in the top of the sixth and scored twice to take a 6-5 lead.
The Lady Lions tied the game back up in the sixth on Jill Brock's RBI single up the middle and won it in the seventh on Vansandt's fifth hit of the day.
Cousar (14-11) pitched every inning of both games.
FHU takes on Bethel (Tenn.) University at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow in an elimination game.
