HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The William Carey Softball Team wrapped up a four-game home stand with a pair of victories over UT-Southern, taking game one 4-2 and game two 4-0 Saturday afternoon at Joseph & Nancy Fail Field.
 
After two scoreless innings to start game one, a defensive miscue by the Lady Crusaders in the third proved costly, as it allowed the Firehawks to take a 1-0 lead. Carey evened things back up in the bottom half of the inning on a Julia Shaw RBI single to center but another error by WCU in the fourth put UTS back in front 2-1.
 
The Lady Crusaders continued to struggle offensively but in the sixth inning, after a leadoff walk and a sac bunt to start the inning, Laila Clark delivered the hit Carey needed, scoring Anna Grace Shows to tie the game.
 
It looked like UT-Southern was going to escape the inning with giving up just the one run, but Madison Prejean had other plans, driving a two out double to right, scoring Clark to put the Lady Crusaders in front. Reanna Nieman followed, adding an insurance run with a single to right.
 
The Firehawks threatened in the top of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out but starting pitcher Nieman dug deep, retiring the next two batters to seal the win.
 
Game two was much different, as Carey scored in the first three innings to take the early lead. The Lady Crusaders still struggled a bit to string together multiple hits in an inning but made the most out of the chances they had.
 
In the first inning, with two outs, Albanie Fussell made it 1-0 WCU with an RBI single to center field and in the second Carey loaded the bases with no outs but managed only one run on a Liz Cross RBI single.
 
WCU again loaded the bases in the third and once again only pushed across one run on a Ryanne Hornsby sac fly. In the fifth, Magen Caro made it 4-0 Carey, driving a double to left field. The Lady Crusaders continued to threaten in the inning, loading the bases with one out but again UTS limited the damage to just one run.
 
The four runs were more than enough support for starting pitcher Hornsby, as she did not allow a base runner until the fifth inning along with allowing only two hits and tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts.
 
Carey is back in action Friday, March 7, as they head to Gulf Shores, Ala. to take part in the Gulf Coast Invitational hosted by the University of Mobile. WCU will take on Morningside (Iowa) at 3:45 pm and Texas A&M Texarkana at 6:00 pm.