The Lady Blazers softball team continued its success against a tough North Alabama team on Sunday, March 21 at home, sweeping both games 9-1 and 6-5.
As the sixth ranked team in the nation the women continued to perform well at the plate in both games.
“In the fall I was a little worried, but [Coach Macera] kept working with us and working with, and we improved dramatically,” April Hutchens said.
The team put up nine runs in game one against the Lions, but senior Alyssa Shirey pulled the team through in a close second game of the double header, hitting one over the fence and connecting on three out of three times at bat.
“I’m a senior and it’s time to step up,” Shirey said. “Last year I stepped up a few times, but this year I need to double or triple the times I step up.”
The numbers at the plate come as no surprise to the team, as they pride themselves in their ability to do well at bat, compared to other top 10 teams in the nation.
While the team put up impressive numbers offensively, junior Holly Satterfield, once again pitched a near-perfect game, and then finished out the second game against UNA to bring the team home 6-5 to help gain some momentum going into tough conference play.
“Well, it was pretty big, I am not going to lie,” Satterfield said. “I just wanted to go in for the girls and win it for them. I know they had worked hard and they were tired; it was the end of the day, end of the game, and we just needed to pull out a conference win.”
After falling short to some good teams over spring break the team needed a win like this.
“It’s a big confidence booster after such a heartbreaking loss like that,” Satterfield said.
It was no surprise to Coach Macera that the team came back, as the Lady Blazers played like a top 10 team against the Lions.
“You got to bounce back and you got win games if you want to win championships,” Macera said. “That’s what championship teams do; you have to be able to come back and win ball games.”
The team also competed well against Albany State on Wednesday, March 24, as they won both games 9-0 and 7-3.