TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Nineteen players saw action Monday afternoon as Stillman College swept Southeastern Baptist College, 8-0 and 10-2, to open the 2023 softball season at Stillman's Softball Complex.

The 8-0 win is the Tigers' first known shutout in a season opener and the third home-opener shutout in the last five seasons. Stillman shutout Talladega in 2021 and Rust College in 2019 for the first home game, but third overall game, each season. 

Leadoff hitter Lauren Haskins, a transfer from AUM, hit 5-for-6 to lead Stillman in the doubleheader. She scored five runs and drove in three. Centerville native Bailie Seales was 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring twice and driving in five runs in the two games. 

GAME 1: STILLMAN 8, SBC 0

Haskins and Seales each drove in two runs in the first game. Seales got the offense going with a one-out single in the first inning and later scored on a Brookyln Pennington single to center. Mackenzie Kirby hit a sac fly to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. 

Stillman pushed across four runs in the bottom of the second inning. With two on and no outs, Taylor Roland beat out a bunt single to score the first run, followed by a two-run triple by Haskins. Seales added sacrifice flies in the second and fourth innings to help stretch the lead, 7-0. Savannah Mayes drove in the decisive run in the fifth inning to enact the mercy rule. 

Lexi McCray (1-0) recorded the win in the circle during her Stillman debut. She allowed five hits and one walk through five scoreless innings. She struck out two. 

Haskins had two hits in the game, while the Tigers collected one apiece from Taylor Roland, Katelynn Madison, Anniston Jones, Pennington and Seales. 

Emma Harrell led SBC with a 2-for-2 game at the plate. 


GAME 2: STILLMAN 10, SBC 2

The Tigers pushed across seven runs in the bottom of the third inning to help run rule the Chargers again, 10-2. 

SBC got on the board first with a Rachel Revette RBI single to right in the top of the first. Stillman answered in the bottom of the inning, as Pennington singled in two runs to lead, 2-1. 

Seales tripled to score a run in the second, but Emma Jones answered with a ground out RBI for SBC in the top of the third. Leading only by one, Stillman capitalized on RBI singles from Sara Kate Nichols, Haskins and Kirby in the seventh inning. Seales doubled to score two runs. Two other runs came in on wild pitches. 

Haskins hit 3-for-3 in the game, while Seales and Pennington were both 3-for-3. Mayes, Nichols and Anna Johnson each had one hit. 

Elisabeth Boso (1-0) recorded the win in the circle, allowing two earned runs of three hits and five walks. She struck out one. 


NEXT UP: Stillman College (2-0) will return to action Friday, Feb. 10 at home against Point University in a non-conference doubleheader at 2 p.m. The Tigers were originally scheduled to host Oakwood University on Feb. 6, but those games have been postponed to Feb. 14 in lieu of away games at Oakwood.