MARION, Ala. – The LaGrange softball team opened it 2016 season with a split of a doubleheader against Judson.
Dani Gravett pitched and batted the Panthers to a 7-1 first game victory. Judson earned a split of the twinbill with a 7-6 win in nine innings in the second game.
In the first game, Gravett (1-0) pitched a complete game four-hitter, walked four and striking out 10, while at the plate she was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.
The Panthers broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the second inning. Gravett's single drove in Oglesby with the first run of the game. Harrison's two-out single scored Gravett to make it 2-0.
Gravett and Adrienne Little had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth. Little later scored on Smith's ground out to up the Panthers' lead to 5-0.
Leading 5-1, the Panthers closed out the scoring with two runs in the sixth. Smith had a run-scoring single in the inning.
The Panthers finished the game with 11 hits. Smith had two hits and the two RBIs, while Little had the run-scoring double.
The two teams swapped runs in the eighth inning of the second game to remain tied at 6-6. Judson pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the ninth off Katelyn Little (0-1).
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Jessica Smith's two-out RBI double. Judson answered with three runs on five hits in the bottom of the first off starter Emily Cauldwell to go up 3-1.
The Panthers erupted for four runs in their half of the fifth. Kalin Olgesby led off with a single and Gravett followed with a home run to center to tie the game. With two outs, Maegan Harrison broke the tie with a two-run double into the left field corner to put the Panthers up 5-3.
Judson rallied in its half of the seventh to tie the game 5-5 and send it into extra innings.
The Panthers had 15 hits in the second game with Smith leading the team with three. Ashley Chafin, Harrison and Oglesby all had two hits.
The Panthers play at Agnes Scott on Sunday in a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
