HARROGATE, Tenn. — Ritchie Richardson called it.
 
When Kelsie Hocutt stepped up to the plate with two runners on, two outs and the score knotted at three in the fifth inning, the Lincoln Memorial University softball coach had a pretty good idea what was about to happen.
 
"I was sitting there thinking to myself, 'Kelsie Hocutt is due,'" Richardson said. "She didn't have the best weekend last weekend, even though she grinded out some at-bats. I know she expects a lot of herself and was eager to get going and was due. Right on cue, she got the big hit."
 
A big hit was exactly what it was as the senior belted a three-run home run — her first of the season — over the left-field wall, handing the Lady Railsplitters a lead over Lee University that they'd never surrender again at Dorothy Neely Field Wednesday night.
 
That home run propelled the Lady Railsplitters to a 9-3 victory over the Flames in game one of the mid-week, in-state doubleheader followed by a shutout, 7-0, victory in the night cap to secure the sweep in impressive fashion.
 
LMU (5-1) combined for 16 runs on 22 hits, while freshman Bailey Griffith (W, 4-0) was nearly unhittable after she relieved Justice Smith in the fifth inning of the first game.
 
Once the Flames (6-6) tied the score at 3-all with zero outs in the top half of the fifth via a Claudia Jones solo home run and Caroline Freiling pinch-hit two-RBI single, Griffith shut it down. The White Bluff, Tenn., native allowed zero runs on six total hits over 10 innings — three frames in the first game followed by seven more in the second — pitched while striking out five, walking just one batter in over 120 pitches thrown.
 
"She's so efficient with her pitches," Richardson said. "She throws strikes and forces contact early in counts because she throw strikes. You bring her in to relieve, but because she doesn't throw a lot of pitches, she can go in the next one. She can eat up innings, and I felt comfortable sending her back out there in the second game because she really didn't throw that much in relief. You can tell she really mixed well and had them really off balance."
 
In the opening game, the Lady Railsplitters were led by Ty-Kella Goins and Emma Webb's 3-for-4 efforts, along with Hocutt (2-for-4, five RBI) and McKenzie Henry (1-for-4, double).
 
After three consecutive defensive plays — Sierra Hucklebee throwing out a Flame at the plate in the first frame followed by Henry gunning down runners at second base in back-to-back innings to end the frame each time — the Lady Railsplitters broke the egg on the scoreboard. Goins' lone RBI shot through second base, scoring Audrey Petoskey, who doubled, then advanced to third on a Grace Cochran sac bunt, for the first run.
 
Henry followed with a two-RBI double through the left side, plating Goins and Hucklebee, who singled and scored on a throwing error. The Flames scored in the ensuing inning, but Hocutt got every run back and the Railsplitters never looked back.
 
Savannah Daniel, who pinch ran for Cochran, easily raced home after Goins' steal to second rattled the Flames, causing an error to push the Lady Railsplitters' lead to 7-3. LMU tacked on two more in the bottom of the sixth when Hocutt dribbled one to the pitcher, but no one was at first base to take the exchange.
 
"They were huge," said Richardson of the defensive plays. "Kids even when they aren't swinging the bats well, they don't understand you can really contribute with the glove. Those plays get you out of tough situations. We can make the routine plays, but we can also make the great play that can stop a rally or their momentum. Those are turning-points of games really. Those are just as important as the big hits we got, I think."
 
The Lady Railsplitters took their momentum from a stellar game one and put it into the next seven innings. Hucklebee, who led her team in the second game with a 2-for-4 effort and two RBI, got LMU on the board in the bottom of the third frame as she ripped a liner through the middle to score the first of seven runs.
 
Lee busted a triple over into right field after the ball was misplayed to begin the fifth inning, but the unrattled Griffith sat down the next three down in order. The Lady Railsplitters proceeded to add four more runs in the bottom half of the fifth frame, led by a single from Goins, Hucklebee, Henry and Webb each. Goins, who was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Petoskey traded doubles to plate another run as the junior then scored the seventh and final run via a wild pitch.
 
Up Next
The Lady Railsplitters host three teams, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday into Sunday for a slew of games on tap back at Dorothy Neely Field.