Jags Softball Defeats Mississippi State 3-2
South Alabama Softball downed Mississippi State 3-2 at Jaguar Field Wednesday evening after the Bulldogs threatened with bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning.
Farish Beard earned the win to move to 17-3 on the season with four scoreless innings with three strikeouts and two walks and only allowing two hits. Hannah Campbell closed out the game by retiring three consecutive Bulldogs.
The Jags scored all of their runs in the bottom of the second inning. Alex Breeden hit a one-out double to left field and had Alyssa Linn pinch-run for her. Then Amanda Herron would hit a two-run homer, her third homer of the year, to take a 2-0 lead. Taylor Rodgers would reach base after being hit by a pitch and would score when Stephanie Pilkington hit a two-out RBI single.
Pilkington went 2-for-3 to lead USA. Chloe Rathburn, Breeden and Herron all had a hit each as the Jags had five hits, the same number as the Bulldogs in the game.
MSU would score their first run in the top of the fifth inning by way of an error. Campbell would hit the first batter she faced but then retired the next six bulldogs she faced.
In the top of the seventh the first three batters all hit singles to load the bases against Campbell. Then a sacrifice fly to right field would score one run to cut the Jaguar lead to 3-2 then Campbell closed it out by retiring the next two batters preserving the win.
The Jags will travel to #18/20 Louisiana-Lafayette for a three game series starting with a double-header on Saturday at 2pm then the third and final game on Sunday starting at 1pm. Saturday’s games will be broadcased on ESPN3 and the link to watch is http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/1748519/NCAA-Softball-South-Alabama-vs-Louisiana-Lafayette