No. 5 UTA uses two-out rally to down No. 3 Georgia State
Troy, Ala. – The No. 5 seed UTA scored four runs with two outs in its last at bat to defeat No. 3 seed Georgia State 9-8 and advance at the 2017 Sun Belt Softball Championship.
UTA (31-25) advances to face No. 4 seed South Alabama tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. CT in another elimination game. Georgia State (34-23) is eliminated from the tournament.
UTA mounted a dramatic rally in the top of the seventh when Laura Curry hit the first home run of her career over the right center field wall with two runners on and the Mavs trailing by three. Curry, who had one previous inside the park home run, tied the game with the two-out blast.
UTA maintained the momentum as Whitney Walton delivered the go-ahead run with a RBI single to score Sandra Mendoza. Those proved to be the winning runs as UTA pitcher Sam Clakley finished off a complete game effort to improve to 25-13 on the season. Georgia State pitcher Peyton Worsham took the loss to fall to 4-3.
Georgia State used a five-run bottom of the fourth inning to break the game open early. Megan Litumbe singled with the bases loaded before Kensey Caldwell launched a grand slam over the left field fence.
UTA scored a run in the first and two in the second to jump out to the early lead. Aileen Garcia doubled to left center to score Whitney Walton who singled before her. In the second, the Mavericks loaded the bases before a Sandra Mendoza hard grounder was muffed and allowed Shelbi Sikes to score from third. Marisa Datko then followed with a sacrifice fly to center to give the Mavericks a 3-0 edge.
UTA 9, Georgia State 8 (May 11, 2017 at Troy, Ala.)
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UTA................. 120 110 4 - 9 13 0 (31-25)
Georgia State....... 020 510 0 - 8 12 2 (34-23)
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Pitchers: UTA - Sam Clakley and Kacey Everett. Georgia State - Chance, A.; Jennings, K.(3);
Worsham, P.(8) and Drake, Ivie.
Win-Sam Clakley(25-13) Loss-Worsham, P.(4-3) T-2:14 A-399
HR UTA - Laura Curry (2).
HR GSU - Caldwell, K. (9).
Weather: Clear
Worsham, P. faced 2 batters in the 7th.