Georgia Southern Sweeps Doubleheader Over App State on Alumni Day
STATESBORO, Ga. – With 15 alumni in attendance for the Georgia Southern softball team's annual Alumni Day, the Eagles swept a crucial Sun Belt Conference doubleheader over longtime rival Appalachian State Saturday afternoon. The Eagles claimed the doubleheader by scores of 6-2 and 11-7 on a blustery day at Eagle Field.
Game 1 – GS 6, APP 2
Georgia Southern (22-17, 8-3 SBC) never trailed in the day's first game en route to claiming the 6-2 win spurred by Morgan Robinson's eighth home run of the season in the first inning. The junior first baseman tallied three RBI on the knock – driving her season RBI tally to 41 once the day was done. She drove in Taylor Rogers and Emily Snider to put the Eagles up 3-0 in the first.
In the top of the third, Jenny Dodd hit her eighth home run of the season for App State (9-32, 2-12), scoring Cara Parker to pull the Mountaineers within one at 3-2. But that was all the scoring for App State as Georgia Southern's defense would hold them scoreless for the rest of the game.
In the bottom of the fourth, Emily Snider extended the lead out to two runs when she sent a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring India Davis. The Eagles rounded out their scoring in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs from Rogers and Snider. Rogers scored off an RBI single by Hannah Farrell to right-center field and Snider scored when Michelle Mazur came in to pinch hit and recorded a single to left-center field.
Robinson led the offensive drive for the Eagles with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate that included her round tripper, a double, her one run scored and three batted in. Mazur was 1-for-1, coming on to pinch hit in the sixth.
Dixie Raley (15-7) recorded the win in the circle for GS, pitching all seven innings while striking out four batters. Vanessa Ciocatto (7-15) accepted the loss for App State after pitching the first inning.
Game 2 – GS 11, APP 7
The Eagles led off the second game by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first when Lydia Witkowski scored on a passed ball and Rogers scored a few batters later. But App State came back in the top of the second to take the Mountaineers' first lead of the day by scoring a trio of runs.
The Eagles did not stay down for long as Snider delivered a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to give Georgia Southern the lead back. Rogers scored from first on the blast, marking her third run scored on the day. Rogers ended the day with five runs scored.
App State was able to retake the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and extended that advantage with another two runs in the sixth, but the Eagles did not give up and battled back in the bottom of the frame by plating seven runs to claim the win.
In that half inning, the Eagles loaded the bases before Rowan McGuire took advantage of her pinch hitting opportunity with one out by ripping a single to right-center field and scoring both A.J. Hamilton and Mazur to pull GS to within one at 7-6. Witkowski then recorded the game-winning hit when she sent a single up the middle, driving in Alesha Mann and Davis. Robinson extended that lead to 9-7 a few batters later when she drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Witkowski, and Hamilton finished off the scoring drive with a two-RBI single up the middle to set the score at 11-7. Both Snider and Rogers scored on the hit.
Witkowski and Rogers both had two hits in the game with Rogers going 2-for-3 with three runs scored and Witkowski finished the contest 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Snider went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs batted in.
Heather Felt (1-1) came on to pitch the final one and two-thirds of an inning to claim her first win of the season after Kierra Camp started the game. Ciocatto (7-16) came on to pitch for App State in the bottom of the sixth with bases loaded and nobody out and was saddled with the loss after allowing the seven runs. Annaleise Kennedy started the game for the Mountaineers.
COACH SMITH SAYS
"I'm really happy with our performance today, especially our comeback win in the second game. We were down late but I was really proud of how we came back to score seven runs there in the sixth inning. It was a total team effort all day to earn these two wins. Our pitchers did a very good job for us, our hitters stepped up and battled hard at the plate all day, and while we made some mistakes on defense, we battled through it. We did a lot of good things today, and I am really happy for our team to earn another series victory."
UP NEXT
The Eagles and Mountaineers will play the third and final game of the series on Sunday, Apr. 10. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. and fans are encouraged to wear purple as the game will be the Eagles Purple Game to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer's research.
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Sanders Provides Key Swings in Sweep of Georgia State
ATLANTA – DJ Sanders provided the winning runs in both ends of the No. 5-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball team's Sun Belt Conference doubleheader on Saturday at Bob Heck Field as the squad swept Georgia State 4-1, 6-5.
Sanders ended a scoreless affair in Game 1 with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. That was enough offense for Alex Stewart who allowed one run and scattered seven hits in picking up her 16th win of the season.
With the Ragin' Cajuns (31-3, 12-1 Sun Belt) down to their final two outs in Game 2 and trialing 5-4, Sanders launched a towering two-run home run over the right field fence to help her team overcome a wild fifth inning that saw the Panthers (19-21, 4-7 Sun Belt) take advantage of miscues to pull ahead.
Sanders completed the day with a doubleheader-high two home runs and four RBI. She increased her season home run total to 13, which trails only Lexie Elkins (17) for the team lead.
No. 5 Louisiana stretched its current overall win streak to six games and Sun Belt win streak to eight games. The sweep of the twinbill secured the 26th consecutive Sun Belt Conference series victory, a streak which dates back to March 2013.
The Ragin' Cajuns come-from-behind win in Game 2 allowed the team to maintain its one-game lead over South Alabama (23-11, 11-2 Sun Belt), which swept UT Arlington, for first place in the Sun Belt Conference standings.
Louisiana and Georgia State complete the Sun Belt series with an 11 a.m. (CDT) single game on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM with Steve Peloquin and Bobby Neveaux on the call.
After two innings of hitless action in the opener, both offenses picked up two hits in the third inning. Both GSU's Katie Worley and Stewart worked around the traffic.
Brittany Nollkamper led off the top of the third with her first collegiate hit, then Kassidy Zeringue lifted a single down the left field line. Worley retired the next three Cajuns to escape the jam.
The Panthers collected a pair of two-out hits off of Stewart in the bottom of the third, but she induced a grounder to second base for the final out.
Louisiana struck first, scoring in the next inning with the two-run home run by Sanders that scored Aleah Craighton who led off the inning with a wind-blown infield single.
Georgia State loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the fourth and scratched a run on a misplay of a grounder to trim the Cajuns lead to 2-1. Back-to-back ground balls to Kara Gremillion at third base forced out the lead runner at home plate then Stewart induced a fly ball from Ivie Drake to protect the lead.
Stewart, who shutout the Panthers over their final three at bats, received insurance runs in the seventh inning on a two-run home run by Shellie Landry that increased the lead to 4-1.
After getting traffic in the first two innings of Game 2, but being kept off the board as GSU's Annie Davis induced ground ball outs, Louisiana was able to break through in the third inning.
Haley Hayden (single), Landry (single) and Kelsey Vincent (walk) all reached in succession to start the inning. Craighton muscled a single into left center scoring Hayden with the game's first run. A grounder to shortstop and a leaping catch at third base that resulted in a double play allowed GSU to prevent further damage.
The Panthers countered in the bottom of the third by loading the bases with one out after a single by Reagan Morgan. Kylee Jo Trahan notched a strikeout and induced a fly ball to hold the lead at 1-0.
The Ragin' Cajuns added a run in the top of the fourth after an error on a Zeringue bunt single, then two more in the fifth inning when Craighton powered a two-run homer over the right field wall.
GSU turned the momentum in its favor in the fifth inning and erased the 4-0 deficit with a five-run rally. The hosts scored two runs on a home run by Drake and took advantage of Cajuns miscues to add three more runs to take a 5-4 lead.
Victoria Brown, the Cajuns second reliever in the inning, eventually quieted the Panthers uprising, notching three straight outs with the bases loaded. She struck out Brenna Skalski, induced a grounder to Sanders for a force out at home and then Gremillion scooped up a grounder from Drake and fired to Vincent for the final out.
The Panthers held the lead until Sanders' heroics in the seventh inning.
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JAGS CLINCH FOURTH-STRAIGHT SUN BELT SERIES
MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama softball swept a Sun Belt Conference doubleheader versus UT Arlington on Saturday, clinching a fourth-consecutive league series with the victories.
With the pair of Saturday wins, USA (23-11, 11-2 SBC) improves its league winning streak to 11 games. South Alabama will look for also look for a fourth-straight series sweep on Sunday when the two teams meet for game three at noon.
Links to live stats, video and ticket information can be found by accessing the Jaguar softball schedule page. In-game Twitter updates are provided for each USA contest via the program's official handle, @USAJagsSoftball.
South Alabama used a pair of three-run innings and another stellar pitching performance from sophomore Devin Brown (13-7) to take game one versus the Mavericks (25-10, 4-7 SBC) by a score of 6-1. Destin Vicknair (10-3) picked up her fifth-straight win in game two while holding the visitors to only one run on four hits with four strikeouts in the 5-1 victory.
Emily Messer, Alex Breeden and Haleigh Lane tallied three hits apiece on the day, with Messer and Lane scoring a pair fo runs apiece and Breeden driving into two. Kaleigh Todd scored twice and drove in two runs. Stephanie Pilkington scored once and drove in two runs to increase her team-high in RBI to 24.
Messer increased her on-base streak to a team-best 21 games, while Lane hit safely for the 11th game in a row. Kristian Foster drew a pair of walks on Saturday to improve her on-base run to 11 games.
Brown finished game one with 13 strikeouts, marking her 13th appearance this season with 10 or more strikeouts in 24 total appearances. The Mobile, Ala., native entered the week with the most strikeouts in the NCAA and now has 213 on the year, 21 shy of tying Beth Pilgrim's Jaguar single-season record 234, set in 2009.
Game One – South Alabama 6, UT Arlington 1
South Alabama showed no signs of rust after its midweek trip to Mississippi State was canceled due to rain in the Starkville area on Wednesday; the Jags put up a three spot in the bottom of the first to take an early lead.
Messer led off with a base hit to left field, and Todd followed with a walk. Amanda Minahan bunted the pair into scoring position, and Pilkington supplied a single to right field to score Messer for a 1-0 lead. Foster then lifted her team-best third sacrifice fly to center field to score Todd and double USA's advantage.
In the next at-bat, Lane doubled to right center to score Haleigh Lowe, who reached on a Maverick fielding error, as USA jumped ahead, 3-0.
The Jaguars extended their lead in the bottom of the third when Breeden doubled down the left field line to plate Pilkington and Foster, and Todd grounded out to second base to allow Dayla Gulledge to score, as the host pushed their lead to six runs.
UTA scratched a run across in the top of the fourth after Britnea Barilli reached on a one-out base hit and then scored after a pair of Jaguar errors, cutting the Jag lead to five runs.
Barilli threatened again in the top of the sixth when she reached third on Mallory Foster's double down the left field line, but Brown forced Kacey Everett into a fly out to left field to avoid any further damage.
Messer, Pilkington and Breeden each went 2-for-3 to lead USA at the plate. Breeden drove in a pair of runs, while six different Jaguars scored in the contest.
Brown allowed only one run (unearned) on three Maverick hits with one walk.
UTA starter Brooklynne Simbeck suffered the loss after allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits with a walk in one inning. Reliever Sam Montes went 1 1/3 innings, giving up three runs (all earned) on three hits with three walks. Taylor Simmonds scattered a pair of Jaguar hits across the final 3 2/3 innings.
Game Two – South Alabama 5, UT Arlington 1
USA took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of game two on Pilkington's sacrifice fly to left field, which scored Messer, who reached again to lead the game off with a base hit.
UT Arlington knotted the score in the top of the third when Laura Curry singled to score Rebecca Stokes, who reached on a one-out base hit up the middle.
USA took a three-run lead in the bottom of the fourth when Todd, Minahan and Lowe each delivered two-out RBI singles consecutively to score Lane, Tucker Caraway (pinch-running for Breeden, who singled) and Todd.
The Jaguars tacked on a final run an inning later when Gulledge drove in Lane, who singled, with a base hit to right field.
Vicknair dodged trouble in the top of the sixth after dealing Shelbi Sikes a two-out walk to load the bags, before forcing Kayci Moore into an infield pop up. Vicknair retired the Mavericks in order in the top of the seventh to secure the victory.
Seven different Jaguars recorded hits in game two, as USA outhit UTA, 9-4. Lane led the way on 2-for-3 hitting with a pair of runs scored. Gulledge recorded her second multi-hit game with a pair and one RBI. Messer drew a walk and scored for the fifth game in a row.
Vicknair struck out four Mavericks against two walks and allowed one run (earned) on four hits.
Starter Samantha Clakley took the loss for the visitors after giving up five runs (all earned) on nine hits with a strikeout and three walks in five innings. Simmonds threw one inning of shutout relief.