Saint Leo Softball opened the season by splitting the first two games at the Gulf Shores Invitational. The first game was a dominant performance for the Lady Lions as they bested Huntsville 13-5 for the huge win. The Lions scored in every inning except the fifth with almost every inning having more than one run. The first inning started right away with a score for the Lions as junior infielder Kacie Kelly singled through the left side of the field. Kelly turned on the burners by stealing second base the next play to place her in scoring position. She was later advanced to third by senior outfield Shyanne Dubois from a single bunt. Dubois then also stole second placing two runners into scoring position. A sacrifice fly by freshman infielder Kayleice Hooks scored Kelly giving the Lions a one-nothing lead at the top of the first. The first at-bat for Huntsville did not go as planned as they only went through four batters before returning back to defense. The second inning was a good one for the Lions as they put together three more runs extending their lead to four. This was behind big plays like junior Sarah Pausher who tripled to right field early. Bethany Kursch also worked the count to get a free pass to first by walking, and Pauscher eventually scored on a passed ball at the plate before two more runners got on base for Kelly to then send a rocket to center field to pick up the two RBIs in the inning. Huntsville did not go down quietly as they put up three runs of their own to bring the score to a one-run game. Saint Leo kept the pressure on as Hooks got on base again with a single through the left side. She eventually scored with a single bunt by outfielder Bailey Burke to give the Lions a two-point lead.
Another dominant defensive inning by Saint Leo stopped Huntsville again with zero runs in the bottom of the third. Saint Leo continued the pressure by scoring four more runs and holding Huntsville to zero for four straight innings. It was in the sixth inning that Huntsville finally scored again making the score 10-5. However, it didn’t matter as Saint Leo never let up and eventually won the game in a big fashion.
The team batted an impressive .400 with Hooks batting 3-4 and gathering four RBIs. Saint Leo moved onto the second game where they, unfortunately, did not receive the same success. The Lions went scoreless until the fourth inning when senior infielder Ashly Morris reached on base with a fielding error and then later scored on a single to left field by freshman third baseman Kendyl Crean. Saint Leo again didn’t score until the bottom of the sixth when Hooker hit a home run to right centerfield. After that the Lions didn’t score leading to a tough 9-2 loss splitting opening day.
