Message from Assistant Director of Sports Information Trevor Wenners: We will be featuring our outstanding student-athletes with a top-moment series. On every Monday and Wednesday until May 27, we will highlight one standout moment from the 2019-20 season. Every Panther program will be featured once during the series. You can see these stories on our Panthers' athletic website or through our social-media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
SETTING THE STAGE:
The LaGrange College softball team came out of the gates flying during the 2020 season, as the Panthers won 7-of-8 games from Feb. 23 – March 9. Four of those seven victories came by way of the eight-run mercy rule, which comes into play after five innings.
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The Panthers went 7-5 overall and 2-0 in the USA South. Freshman Abbey Gardner earned USA South Rookie Pitcher of the Week laurels on March 2.
LaGrange earned its first win of the year on Feb. 23, outlasting the University of Dallas, 10-1, in five innings. Gardner earned her first-collegiate win in the circle, allowing only one run in the complete-game effort.
The Panthers took on Mississippi University for Women in Game 2 on Feb. 23, as the unit cruised to an 18-1 win in five innings. LaGrange finished with a season-high 20 hits. Gardner (4-for-4, 4 runs, 2 doubles, RBI, walk), senior Taylor Long (3-for-4, 3 runs, 3 RBIs, triple) and senior Riley Densmore (3-for-3, 4 RBIs, 2 runs) led the charge.
Junior Rebekah Hobson crushed her first home run in a Panther uniform during an 11-4 triumph over Greensboro on Feb. 29. The three-run shot in the third inning stood up as the game-winning hit in LaGrange's first win of the season at Panther Field.
A great deal of Panthers stepped up the plate with outstanding seasons. Densmore led the team in batting average (.459), slugging percentage (.622), RBIs (13) and was tied for first in hits (17). The Ball Ground, Georgia, native finished in a tie for the ninth-most RBIs in the USA South.
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Gardner went 4-0 in the circle and maintained a 2.08 ERA, leading the team in wins, complete games (3) and innings pitched (33.2). She finished in a tie for eighth in the conference in wins, while leading the team in home runs (2) and sitting in a tie for first in runs (11).
Junior Brittany Todd led the Panthers in doubles (4), while ranking in a tie for first in hits (17) and triples (1). Long finished the season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage at shortstop, finishing with 34 assists, 19 putouts and no errors.
Sophomore Landon DeLamar maintained the second-highest batting average (.441) and on base-percentage (.512) on the squad. Additionally, the second baseman recorded a trio of doubles, which were tied for the second most on the team.
Sophomore pitcher Payton Thomas led LaGrange in ERA (1.48) and strikeouts (15), ranking seventh in the USA South in ERA.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Panthers put together all their diligent work during back-to-back sweeps of Judson and Huntingdon on March 7 and 9. During those four wins, LaGrange outscored its opponents, 27-1, and the team's pitching staff refused to allow a single earned run.
In Game 1 against Judson, Gardner earned the complete-game shutout in an 11-0, five-inning triumph. The Panthers' deep and talented lineup came through, as nine different Panthers recorded at least one hit, including four two-hit performances.
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Thomas was remarkable in the circle during an 8-0, six-inning win in the second game against the Eagles. She threw a one-hitter and earned the complete-game win, striking out a career-high six batters. Long went 2-for-4 in the leadoff position, compiling three runs and two RBIs.
The Panthers carried their momentum to Montgomery, Alabama, defeating Huntingdon, 5-1, in Game 1. Gardner recorded the complete-game win, while Densmore went 3-for-4, with an RBI, at the fifth slot in the batting order.
In Game 2, Thomas kept the Hawks off the board, going the distance. Freshman Maggie White came through in the biggest moment of her young Panther career. Panthers 18th-year head coach Jennifer Claybrook decided to insert White in a pinch-hitting capacity in a scoreless game and the bases loaded with one out in the sixth.
The Alabaster, Alabama, native rose to the occasion, connecting on the game-winning, two-run single up the middle during a 3-0 win for the Panthers. White eventually crossed home with the third and final Panther run, giving Thomas some breathing room in the circle.
TAYLOR LONG'S REACTION:
"Coming out and getting back-to-back sweeps was absolutely amazing, especially against Huntingdon because they were the team to beat and we did. Our entire team worked hard on the field and in the weight room to beat them this year. I could not have asked for a better team to be on this season."
LANDON DELAMAR'S REACTION:
"We have never wanted a win as bad as we wanted to beat Huntingdon after the devastating loss in Game 3 of a first-round, best-of-three series in the USA South Tournament, which ended our 2019 season. The win against Judson lit a fire in us that gave us that edge to sweep Huntingdon."
ARCHIVED TOP-MOMENT STORIES:
Sydney Dailey of Women's Soccer scores game-winner against Berea
Cross Country breaks 11 personal records at USA South Championship
Women's Indoor Volleyball reels off five-straight wins
Errick Sturm of Men's Soccer becomes program's all-time, goal-scoring leader
Cameron of Men's Basketball earns USA South All-Conference Second Team honors
Women's Basketball earns second-ever win at Maryville with fourth-quarter rally
Men's Lacrosse earns first-ever win against Centenary at Callaway Stadium
Trevor Wenners can be reached at twenners@lagrange.edu.
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