Lyon leads No. 8 UL Monroe past No. 5 Georgia Southern, 2-1

Mobile, Ala. – Sophomore Cheyanne Lyon laced a two-out, two-RBI double in the first inning to lead the No. 8 seed UL Monroe Warhawks past the No. 5 seed Georgia Southern Eagles in the first round of the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship.

The game was the first of two single elimination games of the tournament. UL Monroe (24-32) advances to face No. 4 seed Georgia State at 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday. The Eagles finished their season with a 30-27 overall record.

UL Monroe’s two-out rally began with senior Amye Barre drawing a walk and junior Melanie Coyne beating out an infield grounder to shortstop. A wild pitch advanced the two runners before the left-handed Lyon hit an opposite field line drive into the left-center field gap.

Georgia Southern sophomore Alesha Mann cut the deficit to one with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning. The home run was the first hit of the game allowed by Coyne in the game. Coyne (18-21) went the distance and allowed one run on three hits with five strikeouts to earn the win. Georgia Southern’s Dixie Raley, named the Freshman of the Year on Tuesday night, went seven, allowed two earned runs, struck out five to take the loss and fall to 22-14.

2016 Softball Championship Central

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