Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Gulf Shores, Ala. – This afternoon the Columbia College softball team was back in action when they took on Thomas (Ga.) University and Avila (Mo.) University in the 2017 Gulf Shores Invitational. The Cougars were able to win both games of the day defeating the Night Hawks by a final score 8-4 in the first game and then defeating the Eagles by a final core of 4-3 in the second game. With the two game sweep, Columbia College improves to 9-2 on the season and will advance to the semifinals of the Gold Bracket in the 2017 Gulf Shores Invitational.

In the first game of the day, Thomas came out in the first inning and were able to score to take an early 1-0 lead in the contest. However, the Cougars bounced back quickly in their half of the first and tied the game at one after Carly Spalding scored on an RBI single from Theresa DeCosty. Columbia continued to put the ball in play as the game progressed and were able to score three runs in the third and two runs in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead into the fifth inning. The Night Hawks did all they could to get back into the game and were able to cut the Cougars lead to 6-4 after scoring three runs in the top of the sixth but that was as close as they would get as Columbia added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to solidify their third victory of the weekend. Paxton Welch was the starting pitcher for the Cougars allowing nine hits and four earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. Offensively, Columbia College was led by Carly Spalding who went 3-4 with three runs scored and Olivia Denslow who 2-3 with three RBI's.

In the second game, the Cougars had a tough time getting anything going for the first four innings of the contest. The Eagles were able to score three runs in the second inning and held a 3-0 lead through four innings of play. Columbia's bats finally came to life in the bottom of the fifth when Carly Spalding hit a one run homerun over the left field wall and Molly Carter followed that up with a two run shot just two batters later to tie the game at three. Each side threatened to score over the next few innings, but ultimately an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh from Allyson Metz gave the Cougars the walk-off win as they improved to 4-0 on the weekend. Lauren McCroskie was the starting pitcher in this game for Columbia allowing six hits and no earned runs in seven innings of work. In addition to McCroskie, Theresa DeCosty went 2-3 with a run scored and Molly Carter went 1-4 with two RBI's to round out the top performers for the Cougars.

Columbia College is back in action tomorrow, March 5^th when they take on 20^th ranked Central Methodist (Mo.) University in the semifinals of the 2017 Gulf Shores Invitational. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.