GARDENDALE, Ala. - There was a little bit of rust, but it didn't take long for Stillman College softball to shake it off and sweep its season-opening doubleheader on Saturday against Miles College at Bill Noble Park, 14-4 and 11-2.
Last year's Southern States Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year
Lauren Haskins hit 6-for-9, drove in eight runs and scored six times. She slugged a three-run home run and added a pair of triples in the two games. She also picked up her first stolen base of the season, adding to her Stillman career total (57).
Bailee Seales hit 6-for-6 with four doubles to kick start her fifth-year senior campaign, driving in four runs and scoring twice.
GAME 1 - STILLMAN 14, MILES 4
Playing Miles College for the first time since Stillman's final NCAA D2 season in 2016, the Tigers opened their eighth season in the NAIA a bit sluggish. The host Golden Bears put up a three-run first inning after the Tigers stranded a runner in the top of the inning. However, Stillman evened the game in the second with a
Carolyn Carter RBI double and Haskins' first two-run triple.
Seales drove in her first run in the top of the third, but Miles tied the game once more in the bottom of the third.
Another two-run triple from Haskins turned into a Little League home run as she scored on an error in left field. The three runs sparked a Tiger five-spot in the top of the fourth to break the game open, 9-4. Seales and Carter also drove in runs in the inning.
RBI doubles from
Madison Bubel and Seales in the sixth inning extended the lead before Stillman pushed across three more in the top of the seventh.
Lexi McCray (1-0) allowed four runs, one earned, off three hits and a walk in her five-inning senior campaign debut.
Jasmine Wade also pitched two perfect innings in relief.
GAME 2 - STILLMAN 11, MILES 2
Miles scored an early unearned run in the first inning, but Stillman took a 3-1 lead in the third.
Katelynn Madison and Bubel each had RBI doubles, while Seales drove in Bubel with a sacrifice fly.
In the fourth,
Katelyn Lankford drew a walk before
Paisley Wilson collected her first double in her Stillman debut to set up a Haskins RBI bunt single.
Wilson picked up her first RBI in the top of the fifth with a sac fly, followed by
Savannah Pearce's first Stillman RBI single, stretching the lead, 6-2. Haskins' 3-run home run to center made it 9-2.
Chaluncie Denny and
Anniston Jones each singled in runs to enact the 8-run mercy rule.
Elisabeth Boso closed out the bottom of the fifth with two strikeouts.
Faith Byram (1-0) recorded the win, allowing no earned runs off one hit and one walk through four innings.
NEXT: Stillman will travel to West Point, Georgia on Wednesday, Feb. 7 to meet Point University in a non-conference doubleheader before hosting Oakwood University at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9 at the Stillman Softball Complex.
