GREENWOOD - The Lander softball team recorded its third straight doubleheader split Tuesday afternoon when the Bearcats defeated Anderson University 4-3 in the first game and dropped the second half of the twinbill, 9-7, at Doug Spears Field. (Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box)
Lander moves to 7-7 overall, while Anderson is 8-4.
In the first game, Hayley Leissner (4-2) earned the win as she struck out nine, walked three and allowed just one earned run on three hits in the complete seven innings.
Anderson's Casey Deer (2-1) took the loss as she struck out five, walked one and allowed three earned runs on four hits in six innings pitched.
Lander rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the sixth inning to score two runs and capture the win. Natalie Smith doubled, advanced to third on Casey Corbitt's sacrifice bunt and scored on Haley Foster's RBI single. Foster then scored the game-winning run when she went home on an Anderson throwing error.
The Bearcats took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI double by Brittany Sheriff and an RBI single by Smith.
Anderson took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Cameron White led off with a solo home run and the Trojans added two more runs on Lander errors.
Smith (2-for-3, one run, one RBI) and Sheriff (1-for-3, one run, one RBI) both doubled for the Bearcats.
In the second game, Anderson jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead when Emily Monteith belted a three-run homer and Kacey King scored on an error. Lander came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning on Corbitt's two-RBI double.
The Trojans extended the lead to 6-2 in the third on King's two-RBI single, but, again, the Bearcats answered with Foster's solo homer in third.
Anderson came right back in the fourth with back-to-back home runs by Amber Sutherland and Elisa Sebastyan to take an 8-3 lead.
But Lander retaliated with Sheriff's RBI double in the fourth and Corbitt's second RBI double and Amanda Hamby's sacrifice fly in the fifth to cut the lead to 8-6.
Both teams added their final runs in the sixth when Anderson scored on Sebastyan's sacrifice fly and Lander got an RBI single from Rachelle Adkins.
For Lander, Foster batted 1-for-1 with one homer and two runs scored, while Corbitt went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI and Sheriff went 2-for-5 with one double, one run and one RBI. Natalie Smith went 3-for-5 with one run, while Adkins went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.
Anderson's Alex Waldroup (3-1) was awarded the win as she struck out two, walked three and allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings pitched.
Lander's Shelbey Spencer (2-4) suffered the loss, striking out three, walking one and allowing five earned runs on six hits in 2.1 innings pitched.
