SALEM, VA – For the second straight season, the Valdosta State softball team opened up the NCAA National Championship Tournament with an extra inning battle. This year however, the outcome was different, as the Blazers bats came alive in the late innings to stage a nine inning, 8-5 win over the Warriors of Wayne State on Thursday night in Salem, Va..

The Blazers (46-14) trailed the Warriors (46-11) with one out in the top of the seventh inning, before VSU strung together three straight hits by Shelby Altman, Kiley Rusen, and Hannah Strickland to cut the deficit to 5-3. In the next at bat, Chelsea Canara, who also homered earlier in the contest, blistered a hopper to short that was mishandled by WSU’s Gabby Williams, allowing another run to score. With Strickland representing the tying run at second, Fran Johnson belted one of her three hits on the day back through the middle to knot the contest up at 5-5 and force extra innings.

Two innings later, Johnson delivered again to put the Blazers on top 8-5 with a three-run moonshot to left field. The homer was the VSU right fielder’s seventh of the season, and brought in both Rusen and Strickland, who reached on back-to-back singles to lead off the frame.