Wednesday, on a beautiful March afternoon, the Lady Bulldog
softball team capped off a five-game homestand with a double header
sweep of the Birmingham Southern Panthers. The Bulldogs disposed of
the Panthers with relative ease, beating them 8-0 in the first game
and 4-0 in the second.
In game one of the twinball series, Iyhia McMichael went yard in
the first inning, blasting her ninth home run of the campaign and
giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. The ladies in maroon would never
look back. Thanks to a three-hit complete game shutout by ace
pitcher Melissa Massey and power hitting by Kate Jaspers and
Tanelda McDonald, the Lady Dawgs had amassed a 5-0 lead by the
fifth inning. However, the Bulldogs’ offensive display was not
quite finished. On what would be the game’s final pitch, junior
Jennifer Waterman would blast her first home run of the season in
grand style, plating three additional runs for the Bulldogs.
“We are getting really great performances from Iyhia and
Waterman,” head coach Jay Miller observed. “I mean both those girls
are batting way over their totals for last year. We just need to
keep building on this foundation.”
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Bulldogs and
Panthers were deadlocked for the better part of three innings. It
was not until Jennifer Nelson’s RBI double in the third inning that
the Bulldogs were able to break the goose egg off the scoreboard.
Krystal Tillman added an RBI groundout in the fifth inning to give
the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead, but still the game seemed in doubt. That
is until Iyhia “I-Mac” McMichael erased all doubt in the sixth
inning with her fourth triple of the season, spurring back to back
RBI doubles from Jennifer Waterman and Jennifer Jessup to give the
Lady Dawgs a 4-0 lead.
These four runs proved to be more than enough for the victory,
thanks to great pitching by senior Courtney Frank.
“I believe this is the best Courtney has pitched all year,”
commented Miller. Frank pitched a complete game shutout, allowing
only two hits in seven innings of work.
“This win was a really big confidence builder for me
personally,” Frank said. “But I still need get ahead in my counts
more and be more aggressive with the hitter.”
These were much needed victories for the Bulldogs, had struggled
to start SEC play, lossing two out of three to both South Carolina
on the road and Georgia at home, though both clubs are ranked in
the top 15 nationally.
“I think these are very important games,” said senior outfielder
and pitcher Jennifer Nelson. “They determine how we are going to
react and play the weaker teams in the SEC. Are we going to play
our game, or stoop to their level of play.”
At 2-4 in the conference, Miller sees no reason for alarm.
“We have now made it through two of our toughest series of the
season and avoided getting swept in both of them,” Miller said.
“Stealing a game in each of those series will go a lot farther in
our RPI rating and chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament than
the four losses will go in keeping us out. But those games are
behind us now an its time to get back to business and do some
serous winning.”
The Bulldogs now look at returning to SEC this weekend with a
trip to Knoxville, Tenn., home of the Tennessee Volunteers, for a
three game series.
“The Vols play a lot of freshmen,” Miller stated. “But they
swing the bats well. They are very aggressive. To go up there and
get a sweep would be nice, but we should win at least two of these
games and try to get back into the plus side.”