Tournament Central

COLUMBUS, Ga. --- The Ave Maria softball team defeated (RV) Corban University, 7-5, in game one of pool play before falling to (19) William Woods, 10-0, in game two at the NFCA NAIA Leadoff Classic on Friday night. The Lady Gyrenes (6-10) conclude pool play at 10 a.m. on Saturday when they take on (11) Belhaven University. Bracket play will begin Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lady Gyrenes struck quickly in game one against Corban as the Blue and Green put three on the board in the top of the first inning. AMU played small ball to start the game, getting Kingsley Avery on via a bunt. After she stole second and a bunt single by Brandi Griswold advanced Avery to third, Cheyenne Benson walked to load the bases for Alyssa Colding. Colding took advantage, doubling to left field to score two. After a couple outs and a hit by pitch, Marlie Braddy drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Benson.
 
A Corban two-run homerun in the bottom half of the first inning brought the score to 3-2 in favor of the Lady Gyrenes. Corban evened the game at three-all in the bottom of the fourth inning on a RBI groundout.
 
AMU broke the game open in the eighth inning when Deanna Stirtzinger hit a three-run home run, the first of her collegiate career, to score Briana Alonso and pinch-runner Jessenia Gonzalez to put the Lady Gyrene in front 6-3. After a single by Avery and a double by Griswold, Benson had an RBI groundout to bring home Avery and make the score 7-3.
 
Corban scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to make the final 7-5 in favor of the Blue and Green.
 
Avery finished game one with three hits in four at-bats and two runs scored. Griswold also had a pair of hits and scored a run.
 
Benson pitched all eight innings for the Lady Gyrenes, allowing five runs, two earned, on eight hits and two walks. She struck out 12 on the afternoon.
 
In game two, the Gyrenes had a few opportunities early but weren't able to capitalize. Avery collected three more hits in game two, to bring her to 6-for-8 on the afternoon. Griswold again had two hits as the 1-2 batters for AMU combined to go 10-for-15 on the afternoon.
 
A 0-0 ballgame through three innings, William Woods scored a pair of runs in the fourth and four in the fifth. They added one in the sixth and three in the seventh to win the game 10-0. AMU had six errors in game two that led to six unearned runs.
 
Emily Lemin took the loss, allowing seven runs, four earned, over 5.1 innings. She allowed six hits and walked six while striking out three. Jessenia Gonzalez pitched 1.2 innings and allowed three unearned runs on three hits.