GULF SHORES, Ala.- The Drury Panthers opened the 2020 softball season on Saturday with a split of two games in the Gulf Shores Division II Showcase in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Drury won their first game, 1-0 over Union (Tenn.), then were edged 3-1 by 16th ranked North Georgia. Saturday marked the start of the season-opening tournament after play was rained out on Friday.
 
Kasey Cazares fired a four-hit shutout against Union to start the year for the Panthers. The senior from Calexico, California, walked three and struck out two as she blanked the Bulldogs.
 
Drury scored the lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Abby Tiemann doubled with one out, then Jacy Ummel, an All-Midwest Region and all-conference selection last year, followed with a double down the right-field line to drive home the game's only run.
 
Cazares gave up a two-out walk in the seventh but got a pop-up to end the game.
 
The Panthers out-hit 16th ranked North Georgia 7-6 in the second game, but the Nighthawks held off Drury for a 3-1 win.
 
North Georgia scored two runs on an infield single in the third inning, then added a run in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead.
 
Ummel drove in Drury's run with an RBI-single in the fifth to pull the Panthers within two, but the Nighthawks got out of the inning as DU left two runners stranded.
 
Ummel and Abby McAteer both went 2 for 3 in the game, but Drury had seven left on base in the loss.
 
The Panthers play again tomorrow as they take on Rollins at 11:30 am at the GS Sportsplex in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
 
 
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