South Alabama Sports – Weekend Roundup
Softball
The #12 ranked Jaguar softball team earned their second sweep of a Sun Belt opponent over the weekend when they hosted Louisiana-Monroe.
The weekend began with a double-header on Saturday with a 2-0 win despite being helt hitless for the first time in 119 games, which dates back to March 24, 2012 when Florida Atlantic no-hit the Jaguars yet USA still picked up a 3-1 win as well.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Kaitlyn Griffith got on base when she was hit by a pitch. She then stole second and third bases to get into scoring position. Then Chloe Rathburn lifted a sacrifice fly which allowed Griffith to score and take a 1-0 lead over the Warhawks.
In the next inning, Emily Messer drew a walk, then stole second base to get into scoring position. Then Stephanie Pilkington grounded out but allowed Messer to round third base and baited a throw to third base from the Warhawk third baseman. She dashed home on the putout attempt and scored to give the Jaguars their 2-0 margin of victory.
Hannah Campbell tossed her fourth shutout of the season and shrunk her ERA to 0.65 and improved her season record to 10-2.
In game two, USA put up 11 hits and scored runs in four of the six innings they batted in. They started out quickly with a run in the bottom of the first when Pilkington led off with a single to center field. Then she scored on the first of two doubles in the game by Griffith.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Jags opened a big lead that started with Blair Johnson and Amanda Minahan scoring on Griffith’s second double of the game to take a 3-0 led. Rathburn then reached on a fielder’s choice which allowed Griffith to score. Chloe would score when Taylor Rodgers was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 5-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, Griffith drove in another run to make it 6-0 Jags.
The Jags ended their scoring for the day with a lead off solo homer to center field straight into a 20-mile per hour wind to put the Jags up 7-0.
The Warhawks ended their shutout after Farish Beard was relieved by McKinnon, who began by striking out her first batter, but allowed back-to-back singles, with the second allowing the runner to score. She then forced a groundout and a pop out to end the game.
Beard improved her record to 16-1 on the season and lowered her nation-leading ERA to 0.43.
The Jaguars ended the series on Sunday with a 7-0 shutout thanks to a trio of Jaguar pitchers. Offensively the Jags churned out 11 hits in the game to extend their winning streak to 13 games.
The Jags got started early again with three runs in the bottom of the first inning get off on the right foot. Stephanie Pilkington lead off the game with a walk, then Blair Johnson hit an RBI single through the right side to drive her in. Rathburn later hit a one-out, two run single to drive in Minahan and Johnson for the 3-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the second, back-to-back singles prompted the Warhawks to yank out their starter Samantha Hamby, who no-hit the Jaguars in the first game on Saturday. Jessica Colliver would pitch the Warhawks out of the inning without any further damage.
In the bottom of the third, she would walk Rathburn which would lead to the Jaguars fourth run of the game when Gwen Jones came in to pinch run for her. She would steal second then score on Alex Breeden’s RBI single to center field.
In the bottom of the fourth, Pilkington would lead off the inning with a single, then Minahan followed with a double. Johnson would drive in Pilkington with her second RBI single of the day. Colliver would be relieved by Haylie Wilson which Rathburn would lift a sacrifice fly to right field off of to allow Minahan to score. Johnson would score when Amanda Herron’s singled up the middle to put the Jags up by their winning margin 7-0.
Campbell would pitch five innings with six strikeouts and five hits allowed. Kaleigh Floore would walk three to load the bases before she was relieved by Farish Beard in one out remaining in the game. Beard of strike the last batter out to finish the game.
Pilkington led the Jags at the plate by going 5-for-8 with four runs cored and one RBI.
With the sweep, the Jags improve to 29-3 overall and a perfect 7-0 in conference play.
The Jags will travel to Tuscaloosa to face the #5/7 ranked Crimson Tide on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6pm.
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team had their friday evening game postponed until Saturday due to field conditions with the rain.
UT-Arlington came out hot on Saturday with two runs in the top of the first inning. They would score two more runs before the Jaguars got on the board in the bottom of the third inning on Cole Gleason’s two-out RBI single to make it 4-1, Mavericks.
The Jags would fall 8-3 in the first game.
UTA would strike first in the second game by taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. But the Jags would take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth before the Mavericks answered with the equalizing run in the top of the fifth.
Multiple run innings in the seventh and eighth inning would let the Mavericks clinch the series with a 6-2 win.
The Jags didn’t fare any better on Sunday when the Mavericks earned the series sweep with a 6-1 win.
The Jags fall to 13-13 on the season and 3-5 in conference play. The Mavericks improve to 12-16 overall and 4-5 in SBC play.