DAHLONEGA, Georgia -- The Lake Erie softball team took to the road this weekend to compete in the Mizuno Invitational, hosted by the University of North Georgia to begin their 2025 campaign. With two games against #8 North Georgia and two against West Florida, the Storm were unable to pickup a win on the trip and start the season 0-4.

GAME ONE

LAKE ERIE - 0
#8 NORTH GEORGIA - 15

The Storm kicked off the season with a very tough opponent in #8 North Georgia. The Nighthawks got things started early with a five-run first inning and continued to extend their lead each inning after that. The Lake Erie offense wasn't able to get things rolling and eventually fell 15-0 in their first game against the top-ranked squad.

The team did have a few bright spots in the game. Freshman Madi Eckert and junior Peyton Powers each drew a walk in the contest. After Power's walk, freshman Samantha Lippiatt managed to swipe second for her first career stolen base.

WP: Angelina Badalament (3-0)
LP:  Addison Nugent (0-1)


GAME TWO

WEST FLORIDA - 10
LAKE ERIE - 5

Game two of the day looked much better on both sides of the ball for Lake Erie. They surrendered two runs in the top of the first to get the game going but the Storm offense was resilient and battled back. To lead off the bottom half of the first, Emma Spahr knocked a single to right field and advanced to third on an error by the West Florida third baseman. CJ Garcia drove in Spahr with a groundout to second and Peyton Powers drove home Eckert on a single to tie up the game.

Unfortunately, the Argonauts had a big, seven-run second inning and the Storm found themselves down once more.

In the third, a leadoff home run by Spahr cut into the West Florida lead to inspire some hope in a comeback.

The game got pretty quiet after that besides one more run by the Argonauts in the fifth. In the bottom of the seventh, down 10-2, the Storm refused to go down easy. Jasmine Gonzales began the inning by reaching on an error by the third baseman and Spahr moved her over with a single and her third hit of the game. Eckert grounded out to the pitcher to move over the runners and CJ Garcia drove them both home with a single to center but was thrown out trying to reach second and that would be the extent of the Storm's comeback attempt, falling to West Florida 10-5.

Four Storm batters recorded hits in the game with each one recording multiple. Spahr would score three runs in addition to her three hits while Powers (3), Garcia (2), and freshman Lily Turkowski (2) rounded out the remaining hits. 

WP: Hannah Harper (2-0)
LP: Kai Mortensen (0-1)


GAME THREE

LAKE ERIE - 2
WEST FLORIDA - 15

In their second matchup of the weekend, the Argonauts seemed to have figured out the Storm pitching early. They scored in four straight innings and jumped out to a sizable lead early. It took a while for the bats to get rolling for Lake Erie but they picked it up in the final two innings and managed to get two runs on the board.

Brynn Gillen knocked in the first run on an RBI single in the fourth and in the fifth CJ Garcia scored on an error

WP: Haley Guffey (2-3)
LP: Lily Turkowski (0-1)


GAME FOUR

LAKE ERIE - 1
#8 NORTH GEORGIA - 23

It was a tough showing for Lake Erie in their rematch with #8 North Georgia. The Nighthawks offense surged early and the Storm had no answer to slow them down. 

Freshman Kai Mortensen tallied the lone hit in the game for the team and the first of her career.

In the fourth, CJ Garcia was hit by a pitch which now puts her in a tie for the most in program history.

WP: Chloe Poss (1-0)
LP: Sydney Murray (0-1)


Looking Ahead

The Storm will travel to Chatham, Illinois for a double header with Quincy University on Friday, February 28th with game one beginning at 1 p.m.