THOMASVILLE, Ga. — The Thomas University softball team completed its series sweep over St. Thomas Wednesday, successfully completing a miraculous five-run comeback to win the ballgame 7-6.
The Night Hawks (19-12, 6-6 SUN) found themselves in an early hole in the first after, a pair of hits and errors brought three runs in to score in the opening frame of action, 3-0.
A pair of popups to Adreanna Killingsworth got the Night Hawks out of the inning, but the damage was done, with the three run lead already in favor of the Bobcats.
In the bottom of the inning, a lone hit and steal from Averie Sheppard saw one baserunner on second, but the Night Hawks were unable to advance the sophomore any further as Bobcat pitcher Hope Quinones denied the Night Hawks any chance to o repond in the first.
In the next next inning, St. Thomas (11-16, 3-6 SUN) again put a Bobcat in scoring position, as an error and hit for STU's first two batters had runners on first and second with no outs.
A pair of flyouts for TU's Larran Carter would bring outs number one and two, but that was all the senior would registers as a walk and a double brought two more runners in to score, extending the lead to 5-0.
After the double, the Night Hawks decided to bring game two's winning pitcher into the contest, with junior Leanne Lain picking up right where she left off, forcing a groundout for the final out of the inning.
The Night Hawks' bats again failed to respond in the bottom of the second, but the momentum started to swing in favor of TU after a quick three-up three-down for Lain in the top of the third.
Next up, the Night Hawks began to come back to life as a Dara Moore single brought Averie Sheppard home, 5-1.
Another quick top half of the next inning for St. Thomas saw the Night Hawks step back into the batters box, with a Tiana Villagomez walk being followed by a Taylor Lanphere single, with runners on first and second now representing the Night Hawks' second and third runs.
A pitching change for the Bobcats failed to alter Thomas' plans, as the fourth inning once again belonged to the Night Hawks, bringing in both Villagomez and Chauntivia Cliatt (pinch-running for Lanphere) with stellar base-running from both seniors.
Michaela Farr and Makana Pember received the RBI in the inning as the Night Hawks cut the deficit to two, heading into the fifth inning, 5-3.
The Night Hawks then manufactured both the tying and lead-changing runs in the bottom of the fifth as a leadoff walk and hit for the Night Hawks had runners on second and third with one out.
A Villagomez single then followed in the next at-bat as Hailie Stewart came home narrowing the gap with runners on first and third.
The Bobcats decided to walk runners into bases loaded in search of a force out, but the plan backfired, as an error saw Holly Campbell advance home, tying the contest 5-5.
Later in the frame with two outs and the bases loaded, AnnMarie McAfee delivered the go-ahead RBI to score Tiana Villagomez and put Thomas ahead 6-5.
Despite the errors plaguing STU, the Bobcats went on to tie the ballgame back up in the sixth, 6-6, after a Gabriella Gilbert sacrifice fly brought in the tying run, ending the Night Hawks scoring run of six unanswered.
Not to be outdone, TU's Holly Campbell drove Averie Sheppard in to score from third, picking up Thomas' winning RBI with a sacrifice fly, 7-6.
In the end, junior Michelle Norvell entered the contest in the seventh, picking up the save, while junior Leanne Lain earned her second win of the series. With the win, Lain improved to 3-2 on the season as the pair of juniors combined to pitch 5.1 innings, allowing zero earned runs with Norvell walking just one in the top of the seventh.
For up-to-date information on Thomas University Softball and other TU Athletics, visit www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, and feature stories of your TU Softball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksSoftb.
