MOBILE, Ala. – A two-out, two-RBI double from sophomore Cheyanne Lyon and timely pitching from junior Melanie Coyne lifted the ULM softball team to a 2-1 victory over Georgia Southern Wednesday afternoon inside Jaguar Field in game one of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
After scoring one run in the UL Lafayette series, the Warhawks (24-32) scored their two pivotal runs in the first inning. The rally began with two outs as senior Amye Barre walked and junior Melanie Coyne beat out an infield chopper to shortstop Alesha Mann.
A wild pitch advanced Barre and Coyne with sophomore Cheyanne Lyon at the plate. The lefty worked a full count before lifting the aforementioned two-RBI double to the left-center field gap that gave the Warhawks a 2-0 edge.
The Eagles (30-27) threatened in the bottom of the first after an errant throw from shortstop Faith Bohack put slapper Haley Carter on second with one out. Sophomore catcher Samantha Agamaite then made an exceptional defensive play on a bunt, laying out to catch the ball right before it touched the ground. Coyne followed with a strikeout on GS cleanup hitter Morgan Robinson to take the air out of the Eagles offense.
In the bottom of the second, Coyne put runners on first and second on a walk and hit-by-pitch before buckling down to strike out the next two batters and retiring India Davis on a flyout to Sidney Coy in center to again eliminate a scoring possibility.
After two fruitless innings from both teams, Coyne nearly plated another run in the top of the fifth on a two-out double that bounced off the top half of the fence, but Barre, who walked earlier in the inning, was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first.
Coyne allowed her first hit in the bottom half of the fifth on a leadoff solo homer from shortstop Alesha Mann which tightened the Warhawks' advantage at 2-1. The Eagles then loaded the bases with one out after back-to-back singles and a walk before Coyne again buckled down to retire the next two, this time on infield popouts. The Warhawks ace would retire the final six batters to pick up her 18th win of the season.
Coyne (18-21) allowed just one run on three hits while striking out five as the Warhawks bested Eagles ace and SBC Freshman of the Year Dixie Raley (22-14) for the second straight time.
ULM returns to action later today at 3 p.m. CST inside Jaguar Field in the double elimination portion of the SBC Tournament.
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