Just days after coming one strikeout shy of tying a school record, Lauren Mounce put together yet another huge performance Friday against Andrew College. The freshman pitcher threw a perfect game as the Lady Bears defeated the Lady Tigers 8-0 in 6 innings. The game took place on Day 1 of the Coyote Classic in Gulf Shores, AL.
 
"I definitely couldn't have done it without the crazy plays that my defense made," said Mounce who struck out 12 batters. "I go in throwing pitch-by-pitch and what matters is winning the at bat."
 
Mounce immediately went to work for the Lady Bears (6-2), striking out two of the first three batters she faced.
 
The offense provided immediate help as well as Anlyssa Richardson walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Liberty Gillihan.
 
Leading 1-0, Mounce picked up where she left off in the first striking out the side in the second.
 
Southwest added another run in the bottom half of the inning. Alyssa Leggett led off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner MaryClaire Johnson, who later advanced to second on a wild pitch. Next up was Morgan Gras who brought Johnson home on a single making the score 2-0.
 
While Mounce and the Lady Bear defense continued to dominate, the hits kept coming for the offense. In the third, Presley Dease hit an RBI single before Gras followed up with one of her own bringing two runs home and increasing the Southwest advantage to 5-0. Mounce then helped her own cause later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to left, allowing Leggett to touch home and making the score 6-0.
 
The final Lady Bear run came in the fifth when Richardson doubled to right allowing Gras to touch home.
 
After the game Southwest head coach Shea Johnson had very high praise for the tremendous pitching performance by Mounce and added that the defense behind her and the offense did an outstanding job, as well.
 
"It was another great night, she struck out 12 and when you throw a perfect game that is just about as good as you can ask for," he said. "Defensively we backed her up really well, and we made two awesome plays at third and we had a couple of backhands in the hole at second base. We scored eight runs in six innings, so I thought that we did really well batting as a team."
 
Offensively, the Lady Bears were led by Gras who had two hits, one run scored and three RBIs. Dease, Gillihan and Richardson all finished with two hits and one RBI. Gillihan had two runs scored while Dease and Richardson had one. Leggett also finished with two hits and added a run scored.
 
The Lady Bears will have a quick turnaround as they return to action on Day 2 of the Coyote Classic with two games. The first will take place at 1:30 p.m. against Coastal Alabama – South with the second following at 3:45 p.m. against Pensacola State.