From staff reports

The University of West Georgia softball team snapped an eight-game Gulf South Conference losing streak Friday afternoon, knocking off West Alabama, 2-1, in a game called due to rain after six innings at the UWA Softball Complex in Livingston, Ala.

The Wolves, who are on the road for the next month, had a 5-1 lead with the Tigers coming to bat in the bottom of the seventh, but due to official rules, the score reverted back to the complete sixth inning score of 2-1. The ruling nullified a three-run homer hit by West Georgia’s Adrienne Clay in the seventh, but the Wolves (22-20, 3-8 GSC East) still got the much-needed victory.

All three of West Georgia’s conference wins have come against the Tigers (21-21, 1-10 GSC East), a team it swept in Carrollton on March 13.

In Friday’s game, the two teams were scoreless for five innings before West Georgia’s Mary York blasted a home run to left field for the game’s first run. The Wolves then added a run on a Paige Hanson RBI single, scoring Kara Pollock, who reached base on a single.

West Alabama’s lone run came courtesy of Angela Smith, who delivered her third home run on the season in the bottom half of the sixth.

West Alabama had a pair of solid scoring opportunities in the early innings, but Bremen graduate Kacie Crider was able to work out of jams in the first and third, as the Tigers left the bases loaded in the first and stranded two in the third.

Crider (9-10) got the win for West Georgia, working all six innings, allowing five hits, one run and two walks, while fanning three.

Emily White (9-8) suffered the loss for the Tigers, yielding five hits - four of which came in the Wolves’ two-run sixth - walking three and fanning one in six innings.



Offensively, Hanson led West Georgia, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. York (1-for-3, HR, RBI), Pollock (1-for-3, run) and Clay (1-for-3) had the Wolves’ other three hits.

West Georgia continues its road swing when it opens play at the GSC Crossover Thursday through Sunday in Decatur, Ala.

The Wolves do not have another home game until April 26 when they play host to the University of Alabama-Huntsville.