Contributed
(March 15, 2010)

ORANGE BEACH - Faulkner dropped two of three games here Sunday in the Gold Division tournament of the Orange Beach Invitational softball tournament.

The Eagles (8-12), despite getting a pair of home runs from Courtney Barber, dropped a 5-4 decision to No. 12 Shorter in their first game of the day. Faulkner rebounded in its second game, riding a three-run home run from Scottie Wilkes and the complete-game pitching performance from Katy Wiggins en route to a 4-0 victory over Montreat. In its final game of the tournament, Faulkner fell to No. 25 McKendree 4-1. Barber had a solo home run to account for the Eagles’ lone run.

Faulkner travels to Franklin Springs, Ga., Friday to take on Emmanuel.

AUM drops two games

After winning their bracket, the Auburn University at Montgomery softball team lost two games in the championship bracket at the Gulf Coast Invitational.  AUM lost to St. Gregory’s 6-3 in the first game and then fell to McKendree 3-2 in nine innings in the second game.

The Lady Senators defense did not help the AUM pitching, giving up seven unearned runs in the two games.  That includes five unearned runs in the 6-3 loss to St. Gregory’s; a team AUM had beaten 7-0 yesterday.

Danielle Ryan (7-2) pitched well in the loss, allowing only five hits with three strikeouts.  Only one of the runs St. Gregory’s scored was earned.

Monica Hatcher had all three RBI for the Lady Senators with a solo homerun in the fourth and driving in two runs in the sixth with a double.

The second game against McKendree was more of the same as Stephanie Baxley (3-3) picked up the loss despite having a strong game on the mound.  She pitched the entire nine inning affair with 11 strikeouts and only allowing five hits.  Only one of the three runs was earned.

Brandi Richards finished with three hits, including a solo homerun in the fifth inning.  Taylor Burt also had a homerun in the top of the seventh to even the score at two.

Neither team could score in the eighth, and after holding AUM scoreless in the top of the ninth, McKendree was able to push across a run in the bottom of the inning to end the game.

AUM is now 14-7-1 on the season and will be on the road this week as the team travels down to Florida for its spring break trip.  AUM will face Warner Southern on Tuesday at 1 p.m.