No. 4 Georgia State defeats No. 2 South Alabama, 3-2 in elimination game

Mobile, Ala. – The No. 4 seed Georgia State advanced at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship with a 3-2 victory in an elimination game against No. 2 seed and host South Alabama on Friday at Jaguar Field.

Georgia State (33-27) must turn around quickly and take on the No. 3 seed Texas State in a second elimination game with a spot in Saturday’s championship game on the line. South Alabama falls to 33-18 on the year with the loss. It marks the first time since 2011 that the Jaguars did not advance to the championship game of the softball tournament.

Georgia State senior Katie Worley (17-9) pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed no earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts. South Alabama freshman Devin Brown took the loss to fall to 20-13 after she threw four innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts. Georgia State freshman Amanda Chance allowed zero runs and surrendered just one hit in 2 2/3 innings in relief to earn her fourth save of the season.

Georgia State sophomore Ivie Drake began the scoring with a two-run home run to center field in the top of the third inning. Drake’s 16th home run of the season plated senior Taylor Anderson who reached base on a hit by pitch.

The Panthers extended their advantage when Anderson singled up the middle with runners on first and second to score junior Morgan Brown from second. The run went unearned to South Alabama starter Devin Brown after Morgan Brown advanced to second on a fielding error. Junior Destin Vicknair came on in relief and recorded three straight outs to end the threat.

South Alabama responded in the bottom of the fifth as senior Emily Messer reached on an error and sophomore Kaleigh Todd singled to start the inning. Senior Stephanie Pilkington reached on a fielder’s choice as Todd was thrown out at second and freshman Dayla Gulledge walked to load the bases for freshman Haleigh Lane. Lane reached on an infield single to score Messer and sophomore Kristian Foster followed that with a sacrifice fly to center to plate Pilkington.

The 2016 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship continues on Friday with one more elimination game from Jaguar Field in Mobile, Ala. All games will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.