Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — If opening day gave a glimpse of what's to come in the 2011 season, then Southern Nazarene will definitely be a show to watch this year after it upset No. 12 Belhaven (Miss.), 5-4, before downing Spring Hill (Ala.), 4-1.

Both games were cut short for the Crimson Storm (2-0) as time limits were put on the games to be able to get all of them played.

In the opener, Daphne Stewart had a perfect start to her 2011 season as she went 3-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored and a pair of doubles. Amy Madden drove in a pair of runs going 1-for-3 on the day while Katie Hale went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Jordan Simmons (1-0) picked up her first win of the year, tossing the complete, six-inning game. She allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out three.

All of the damage was done in the first and fifth innings outside of the game-winning run. Belhaven struck first in the top of the first inning. A bases-loaded walk scored the first run of the game before an infield single to third made it 2-0 Blazers.

The Crimson Storm though answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own. Katie Turner recorded a lead off walk before Stewart laid down a bunt for a single. Hale drove home Turner and pushed Stewart over to third with a double down the left field line and Madden ripped a double down the left field line to score Stewart and Hale to give SNU its first lead at 3-2.

Belhaven retook the lead in the top of the fifth when Rachel Wright drove a two-run home run to center as BU held a 4-3 lead, but SNU responded again in the bottom half. Stewart laced a two-out double to left to score Forest who led off the inning with a walk and tied the game at 4-4.

In the bottom of the sixth, what could go SNU's way did.

Back-to-back Belhaven errors started the sixth as Madden and Kacey Acker both reached base. Shanna Buckles came on to run for Madden and Jordan Jones ran for Acker. Keli Billups loaded the bases with a bunt single before the most unusual of endings. Allison Fields hit a sharp grounder to first base and looked to be tagged out at first after she stopped down the line before reaching first. After a snap throw to the plate nailed Buckles, who was on third, on a force, it hit the SNU coaching staff and Fields that a tag was not properly applied. Fields then took off down the first base line and a throw was made towards first and that allowed Jones to score on the play after she raced from second from the very start and crossed the plate for the winning run.

While the nightcap was less eventful, it was still a dominant performance.

Kaci Crawford came out in impressive fashion in her 2011 debut as the junior allowed just one run on four hits and struck out seven in five innings of work. Crawford, who led the team in Ks last year, struck out nearly a third of the batters she faced.

Forest and Billups both went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI while Forest also scored a run.

SNU took advantage of some early miscues from Spring Hill as all four runs in the game were scored in the first inning and all were unearned. SNU struck first on a Hale double down the left field line that scored Stewart before Hale crossed the plate on a Forest single and Aubrey Jones scored on a Billups double down the left field line. That was all the Storm needed as they let Crawford take it the rest of the way.

SNU will now take on No. 3 William Carey (Miss.) on their home field at 10 a.m. before closing the trip to the south against No. 25 Mobile (Ala.) at 2 p.m.