MONTICELLO, Ark.—Host Arkansas-Monticello remained in first place in the Gulf South Conference West Division as they swept a pair of very different games from the Lady Bucs Thursday afternoon, winning a 3-0 pitchers' duel in the first game and surviving an 11-7 slugfest in the nightcap.

The Cotton Blossoms (35-6, 12-2 GSC) gave game one starting pitcher Kayla Jackson (18-3) all the help she would need in the bottom of the second.  Jackson helped her own cause with a leadoff double, and Sarah Hayslip followed with a two-run homer.  Faith Lund walked and scored later in the inning, and neither team would score again.

The Lady Bucs (14-18, 4-10) only mustered two hits against Jackson, an Alyse Brewer (Florence, Ala./Florence HS) single in the top of the first and a Lauren Dorsett (Mufreesboro, Tenn./Blackman HS) single in the seventh.  In between, only three batters reached base, one by error and two were hit by pitches.

Michelle McEachron (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks over three innings.  Kaylea Brewer (Pulaski, Tenn./Giles County HS) threw three shutout innings of relief, with three strikeouts against a walk and two singles.

In the nightcap, both teams scored a run in each of the first two innings.  Kathleen Nelson (Bartlett, Tenn./Bolton HS) beat out a leadoff bunt single and scored on a throwing error in the top of the first, and Brooke Davis (Southaven, Miss./Southaven HS) came home on an error after drawing a leadoff walk in the second inning.

Davis singled and scored on a fourth-inning Nelson single to give the Lady Bucs their final lead of the game at 3-2, but UAM answered with three in the bottom of the inning.  Kaylea Brewer (Pulaski, Tenn./Giles County HS) doubled and scored in the fifth, and UAM put it out of reach with a six-run sixth inning.

The Lady Bucs batted around in the seventh with a double and five straight two-out singles, to score three runs, but they left the bases loaded.

Nelson and Casey King (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS) each went 3-for-4, while Davis, Dorsett, and Shanae Farrell (Memphis, Tenn./Whitehaven HS) collected two hits each.  Davis scored three runs, while Nelson drove in two.

The Lady Bucs and Cotton Blossoms meet again Friday afternoon for another doubleheader at 1 p.m.