The Lady Govs faced the Nicholls State Colonels for the opening game of the Red & Blue Classic at 10 a.m. on March 5, at the Ole Miss Softball complex, and secured a 4-3 victory.
Allie Blackwood scored the Lady Govs’ first run in the bottom of the second on a double hit into left-center by Kendall Vedder, according to letsgopeay.com.
In the top of the third, the Colonels tied the game on an unearned run.
The game remained tied until the bottom fourth, but when Christiana Gable hit her first home run of the season, the Lady Govs tacked on two more runs.
The Colonels and APSU both scored runs in the fifth, which brought the score to 4-2.
The Colonels used their final at bat to attempt a comeback and hit a home run to bring them within 1 point of APSU. However, the starting pitcher for the Lady Govs, Kelsey Gross, sat down three of the next four batters, which landed APSU with a win.
The Lady Govs’ next game the same day was against UT Martin, and the Skyhawks took down APSU 2-4.
The Skyhawks jumped ahead 4-0 with two unearned runs in the bottom of the second and another two in the third as a result of three extra-base hits, according to letsgopeay.com.
In the fifth inning, Mattson hit her fourth home run of the season, which scored two runs and brought the score to 2-4.
Despite getting three more hits in the last two innings, APSU was not able to triumph against the Skyhawks.
The Lady Govs faced the No. 23 nationally-ranked Ole Miss Rebels on March 4. The Lady Govs were shut out by the Rebels, and the final score was 0-6.
The Lady Govs had multiple scoring opportunities on the first inning. A hit from Danielle Liermann lead to the Lady Govs loading the bases; although no Lady Gov was able to cross the plate, according to letsgopeay.com.
Liermann continued to gain potential momentum for APSU with singles in the third and the sixth innings, but the Lady Govs could not break through the Rebels.
On March 5 the Lady Govs played Nicholls State once again, with a completely different outcome.
The Lady Govs fell behind the Colonels early, who scored five runs in the first inning. The Colonels took advantage of two walks and two errors to get ahead, according to letsgopeay.com.
The Lady Govs scored their only run of the contest in the top of the fourth. The run was a result from Liermann’s third home run of the season.
The Colonels scored their sixth run in the bottom of the fifth, which concluded the matchup.
The Lady Govs’ final game was against Mississippi Valley, and APSU finished out the Red & Blue Classic strong with a 14-3 victory.
The Lady Govs used small ball to score their first runs. An RBI bunt from Mattson and a suicide squeeze from Gable gave APSU a 2-0 lead, according to letsgopeay.com.
The Devilettes took a short-lived lead in the second by scoring three runs, but the Lady Govs answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Freshman pitcher Kelsey Gross held the Devilettes’ offense for the remainder of the game by only allowing three hits over their final three at bats.
The Lady Govs offense had an explosive third inning. APSU scored five runs with a triple from Kacy Acree and RBI singles from Gross and Emily Moore.
APSU scored their final five runs in the fourth. Two runs scored on a single hit by Erica Inagaki, one scored on an infield out by Acree, and the final run scored on a single hit by Liermann, which gave the Lady Govs the 14-3 win.
