Lady Jaguars Defeat WKU 2-0 To Earn Second Consecutive SBC Tournament Title
The 2013 South Alabama Softball Team earned their second consecutive SBC Tournament title after defeated WKU 2-0 on Saturday, May 11, 2013 | sunbeltsports.org
South Alabama’s Hannah Campbell pitched a complete-game shutout as the #18 ranked Jaguars defeated Western Kentucky 2-0 in the championship game to earn it’s second consecutive Sun Belt Conference Tournament title.
Hannah was not only named the Player of the Game, but also the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. She struck out three and did not allow a walk in the win.
Brittany Fowler reached base in all four of her appearances at the plate on Saturday. She went 2-for-2 with a single and a double and two walks and an RBI.
Alex Breeden delivered her first RBI in five games in the top of the fifth and the Jags really needed it. She singled to left field and drove in Stephanie Pilkington, who was pinch running for Haley Fagan, to put the Jaguars up 2-0. Just before Breeden delivered her hit, she made solid contact on the first pitch from the WKU pitcher which broke the bat with a piece flying towards the pitchers circle.
Emily Rousseau, who was named pitcher of the year in the Sun Belt Conference prior to the tournament, gave Western Kentucky all she had to get into the championship game. The WKU ace threw all 10 innings in a 7-4 win over ULL to earn their spot in the championship game for the first time since 2005. Which led to WKU putting their number-two starter Mallorie Sulaski in the circle to pitch at the last minute.
Sulaski, a senior, did well against the Jags through four innings by only allowing tow hits and pitching herself out of three separate situations where Jags were in scoring position.
Hannah Campbell retired the final four WKU batters as the Jags cruised to their 16th consecutive win and improving her record to 21-7 on the season. She also lowered her NCAA-leading ERA to 0.86 and she has not allowed a run in the last 18 1/3 innings. She and Farish Beard and the rest of the Jaguar pitching staff has combined to not allow a run in the last 15 1/3 innings.
The Jags batted .216 in the tournament while holding their opponents to a .135 average.
Along with Hannah’s honor as Most Outstanding Player, Britany Campbell, Brittany Fowler and Kaitlyn Griffith were all named to the 2013 Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament Team.
The NCAA softball selection show will air live on ESPNU at 9pm Central time on Sunday. The Jags will host a viewing party at Heroes Sports Grill on Hillcrest just off of Old Shell Road on Sunday from 8-10pm. Friends, Family and Fans are all welcome to join the team as they anxiously await word of who they will be playing and if they will be selected to host a Regional tournament.
GO JAGS!!
Farish Beard Two-Hits North Texas To Advance To Championship Game Saturday
Farish Beard tossed a two-hit complete-game shutout for the #2 seeded South Alabama Jaguars to defeat #4 seeded North Texas on Friday to earn a 5-0 win and advance to the Championship game on Saturday.
Beard is still undefeated on the season with a 21-0 record as the struck out 10 while extending the Jaguars winning streak to 15 consecutive games and also extending an impressive 18 consecutive innings without allowing a run for the Jags.
The Jags would not get their first hit of the game until the fourth inning when Blair Johnson would lead off with a single to center field. Kaitlyn Griffith and Meghan Collins would both walk with two outs to load the bases. Johnson would score on a fielding error for the first run of the game.
With the bases still full, a passed ball would lead to scores by Griffith and Collins. Then Emily Messer would walk and Britany Campbell would single to right field to put the Jags up 4-0.
They would add one more run in the fifth inning as SBC Freshman of the Year Haley Fagan would hit an RBI double to left field with two outs to score Johnson from first base.
UNT’s only hits came in the third inning with a single up the middle and another single to right field to put runners on first and second with two outs. But Beard would get out of the inning by forcing a foul out to the catcher.
The undefeated Jaguars will face the winner of #1 seed Western Kentucky and #3 Seed Louisiana-Lafayette that will get underway at 9am on Saturday. The Championship game will get underway at 3:00pm on Saturday from Troy, Alabama and can be seen on ESPN3.com online and CSS/CST on local cable carriers.
Go Jags!!
Hannah Campbell No-Hits #21 ULL At SBC Tournament
Hannah Campbell threw her second no-hitter of her career against #21 Louisiana-Lafeyette on Thursday at the Sun Belt Tournament | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Jaguar softball team played a thriller on Thursday evening in a rematch of last years championship game. Hannah Campbell threw her second career no-hitter to snap #21 ranked Louisiana-Lafayette’s 23 game winning streak.
The only hit of the game came from the bat of senior outfielder Britany Campbell. She knocked a two-out 2-2 pitch up the middle to score freshman designated player Emily Messer from first base in the top of the eighth inning.
A moment of controversy happened a half inning earlier when ULL led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double to left center field but was called out at first after failing to touch the base on her trip. ULL head coach Michael Lotief argued with the officials but the call stood and the player was sent back to the dugout.
The win gave the Jags their 43rd win of the season, a new program-record.
Hannah Campbell struck out a season high 13 batters with no walks and no hits. ULL ace Jordan Wallace struck out 10 but she gave up a walk before allowing her only hit to Messer which allowed the only earned run of the game.
The Jags will will play in Game 12 at 5:30pm in the semifinal game. They will face the winner of game 10 of the SBC Championships which start at 12:30 between #4 North Texas and #7 Troy. The winner between the Jags and whomever their opponent is will earn a spot in the SBC Championship Game on Saturday at 3pm.
Go Jags!!
Jags Defeat Troy 5-1 In First Round Of SBC Softball Championship
Kaitlyn Griffith went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run and 3 RBI in the Jags first round game against Troy | usajaguars.com
The #2 seed South Alabama Jaguar softball team defeated #7 seeded Troy 5-1 in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament on Wednesday night at Troy Softball Complex.
Jags sophomore second baseman Kaitlyn Griffith led the Jags by going 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI in the win. This was the Jags first game in almost two weeks and put up five runs on seven hits in the first three innings. The Jags improve their overall record to 42-7, the most wins in program history, on the season and 2-0 over Troy this season, they shut them out at Jaguar Field in April as Farish Beard threw her first career no-hitter.
Starter Hannah Campbell struck out five and allowed only one earned run as she got her 19th win of the season and continued to hold the nation’s best ERA at 0.94.
In the bottom of the first inning Julie Moss (All-Conference first team selection) and Haley Fagan (SBC Player of the Year) got back-to-back two-out singles before Griffith (All-Conference first-team at-large selection) nailed her ninth home run of the season to put the Jags up 3-0.
Two innings later, in the bottom of the third inning, Fowler led off with a double to left-center then scored on Blair Johnson’s single when Troy’s right fielder mishandled the ball. Johnson would later score on a Trojan passed ball to put the Jags up 5-0.
Troy would score in the top of the fourth inning after a walk and back-to-back singles. But Hannah Campbell would settle down and would retire nine of the final 11 batters to close out the game.
The #2 seeded Jags will face #3 seeded Louisiana-Lafayette, a rematch of last year’s championship game where the Jags earned their first-ever Conference Championship. ULL defeated FIU in extra innings on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 5:30pm.
The University sports website will have a radio broadcast of the game free of charge and will have live video and state through the multimedia section. Follow this link for access.
Brittany Fowler Named SBC Player Of The Year; Eight Lady Jags Named To All-Conference Team
Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson presents Brittany Fowler with her plaque honoring her as Sun Belt Player Of The Year Tuesday at Troy. Fowler, a senior, is the first Jaguar to be named Player of the Year. | usajaguars.com
The University of South Alabama’s Brittany Fowler, a senior on the softball team, was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, another first in Jaguar history. In addition eight total Jaguars were named to the All-Conference team on Tuesday.
The announcement came at Troy’s Family Night on Tuesday before the Sun Belt tournament begins on Wednesday. The selections were made by a vote of the conference’s nine head coaches.
Fowler led the league with a .518 batting average and a .645 on-base percentage against conference foes. The Jacksonville, Florida native batted a .406 average, slugged for .648 with 48 runs scored, eight home runs and 31 RBI.
She was also a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen bases and won SBC player of the week honors on March 18.
Additionally Haley Fagan was named SBC Freshman of the Year after leading the conference in slugging percentage with .883, home runs with 7, RBI with 30 and total bases with 53. The Dunnellon, Florida native third baseman hit for .433 against conference foes and also picked up a SBC weekly honor on April 22.
Fowler and Fagan were two of the eight Jaguars selected to the All-Conference team. Hannah Campbell, Blair Johnson, Julie Moss and at-large selection Kaitlyn Griffith joined the pair on the first team.
Farish Beard and Britany Campbell earned second team All-Conference honors.
Emily Rousseau of Western Kentucky was named Pitcher of the Year and Tyra Perry, also of WKU, was named Coach of the Year.
Congratulations Brittany and congratulations to all of the Lady Jaguars honored on Tuesday. But also congratulations to the Coach Clark, the staff and the rest of the team for an amazing season so far, but it’s only just beginning. Go get’em at the conference tournament and the NCAA Regionals. We will be supporting you all the way!
GO JAGS!
South Alabama Sports Weekend Update
Baseball
The 20th ranked South Alabama Jaguar baseball team took two out of three from Middle Tennessee State over the weekend to win another Sun Belt series.
The series began on Friday afternoon at 2pm but was suspended due to rain and had to be concluded on Saturday evening. When it was suspended, the Jags were behind 11-9 in the top of the 14th inning. The Jags would end up winning the game 12-11.
On Saturday, the Jags needed an extra inning to decide the second game in the series as well. Nolan Earley gave the Jags the win on a two-out walk-off double in the bottom of the 10th inning for the 3-2 win.
Cole Billingsley reached on a bunt down the first base line then advanced to to third base on a single to right center by Whitt Dorsey. Earley then placed the 1-0 pitch into right center gap to drive Billingsley in for the win.
Matt Bell allowed two unearned runs on four hits while striking out five and no walks in the no-decision.
The Jags fell in the final game of the series on Sunday 6-5 to the Blue Raiders.
Jacob Noble took the loss after six innings of work where he allowed three unearned runs on seven hits and six strikeouts and one walk.
In the top of the seventh inning the Jags were behind 5-0 after a two-run homer to right field. The Jags finally responded in the bottom of the seventh when Nick Zaharion doubled to left center field then scored when Nolan Earley got his 200th hit and his 50th career double. Earley would then score on Dustin Dalken’s groundout to cut the lead to 5-2.
In the top of the eighth inning MTSU would add another run to make it 6-2.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Jags would load the bases with two outs when Whitt Dorsey was walked, then Jordan Patterson was hit by a pitch and another walk to Zaharion. But an inning ending popup would end the Jaguar threat with a score of 6-2.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Jags would rally for three runs but a game ending 5-3 double play off the bat of Zaharion would allow the Blue Raiders escape the sweep.
The Jags will play Southeastern Louisiana at Eddie Stanky Field to make up a game that was cancelled last month due to weather.
Softball
The Lady Jaguar softball team had their regular season ending doubleheader canceled due to field conditions at Troy.
South Alabama Vying To Be Regional Host
South Alabama’s baseball and softball teams are having a very good season so far this year. With their regular season games dwindling the postseason is looming large both teams could potentially host regional tournaments over the next several weeks.
Athletic Director Joel Erdmann announced on WNSP that the University has put in a bid to host a regional tournament for softball and he said that they would also put in a bid for a baseball regional tournament. He indicated that, if the Jags can finish in the top 16, USA should be able to host a regional.
SouthEasternBaseball.com is projecting South Alabama to host a regional. They also project South Florida, Mississippi State and Southern Miss to be in this regional.
The website also has three other Sun Belt schools in the postseason. They have Troy as a #2 seed at the regional at Florida State, Florida Atlantic as a #3 seed in Nashville for the Vanderbilt regional and Louisiana-Lafayette as a #2 seed at the LSU regional.
Beard Earns First Career No-Hitter To Defeat Troy 9-0
Sophomore Farish Beard tossed her first-career no-hitter against Troy. She struck out 10 of 17 batters she faced on Wednesday. | Photo usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Farish Beard struck out 10 of the 17 batters she faced on Wednesday with only two walks to toss her first career no-hitter as the #18 Jaguars defeated Troy at Jaguar field for her 20th win of the season.
Eight Jaguar batters recorded hits on the way to South Alabama’s 9-0 mercy-rule victory over Troy. Beard recorded her 169th strikeout of the season, currently fifth most in Jaguar single-season history.
South Alabama finishes the regular season home schedule with a 17-3 record.
Beard is holding opponent batters to a .148 average with an ERA of 1.89 on the season. She is holding opposing batters to a .109 average with two outs and runners in scoring position with 1/3 of them striking out against her.
The Lady Jaguars will travel to Troy on May 4th for a series-deciding doubleheader ahead of the Sun Belt Conference tournament being hosted at the Troy Softball Complex.
The Jags continue to hold onto first place in the Conference with a 17-3 league record ahead of 15-3 record of Western Kentucky. The Jags overall record this season is 41-7 with two games to go before the conference tournament.
Haley Fagan Named SBC Player Of The Week
Fagan became the first Freshman in Jaguar history to be named Player of the Week by SBC officials. | usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Haley Fagan was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on Monday. Fagan, the first freshman to earn a weekly conference honor, went 8-for-11 over the weekend against Louisiana-Monroe with six RBI and two home runs in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday. She ended the weekend with a slugging percentage of 1.273 with an on-base percentage of .727.
The two home runs in game two tied the program record for home runs in a single game by a Jaguar student-athlete. She is also two home runs away from tying the school’s single-season record as well.
Also, Fagan is eight RBI away from the all-time single-season record for the program. She currently has 44.
She joins Farish Beard, Julie Moss and Brittany Fowler as Jaguars who have been selected for Player of the Week honors. Moss has been chosen twice.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Update
Baseball
After a setback in the first game against Western Kentucky, South Alabama rebounded to win the next two to clinch the series.
On Friday night, the Hilltoppers used a five run sixth inning to defeat the Jags 10-8. Tanner Perkins allowed two runs on six hits while striking out four with only one walk in six innings of work for the ‘toppers.
Jarron Cito took the loss in five innings of work by allowing seven runs on six hits with one strikeout and three walks.
On Saturday, the Jags used a four-run sixth inning to defeat the ‘toppers by a score of 6-3 to even the series and set up the rubber match on Sunday.
After five-and-a-half innings, the Jags and ‘toppers were tied at 1-1, but three hits and four runs later the Jags were in control at 5-1.
Matt Bell went 5 1/3 innings while only giving up two hits, one run, three walks and five strikeouts but got a no decision in the game. James Traylor came in and pitched 2/3rds of an inning of shutout, no hit ball while picking up the win. Dylan Stamey pitched two innings and allowed six hits, two runs, two walks and two strikeouts.
But Kyle Bartsch pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up the 19th save of his career and to become the school’s all-time saves leader.
On Sunday, the Jags clinched the series with a 7-5 win over the Hilltoppers at Eddie Stanky Field. After the weekend series the Jaguars improved their overall record to 29-12 (12-6 SBC) while Western Kentucky fell to 21-19 overall for the season and 11-7 in Sun Belt play.
After WKU scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game up at 5-5. But the Jags responded in the bottom of the inning to plate two runs for the final margin of 7-5.
Jacob Noble pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks. James Traylor picked up his second win on 2/3rds of an inning of work with one hit and one walk. Kyle Bartsch pitched two shutout innings with two walks and two strikeouts to earn his 10th save of the season and 20th save of his career.
With the series win, the Jags take a one game lead in the Sun Belt Conference standings. Troy, FAU and Western Kentucky are all tied for second place one game behind the Jags in the standings.
The Jags will host a two-game midweek series against Jacksonville State University on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Softball
The lady Jaguar softball team swept another conference opponent as the Jags earned two run-rule decisions against Louisiana-Monroe in Louisiana.
On Saturday, the Jags won both games of the doubleheader by a combined score of 25-1. The Jags combined the for 21 hits with six home runs to win the games by scores of 11-1 and 14-0.
Haley Fagan led the Jags on Saturday by going 6-for-7 with two home runs, four runs scored and five RBI. Her slugging percentage was 1.714 and had a on-base percentage of .857. Plus the freshman extended her team-leading RBI stat to 43 and now takes the team lead in home runs.
Brittany Fowler extended her on-base streak to 23 consecutive games to tie her career high for this mark. She went 4-for-5 with two RBI and four runs scored.
Hannah Campbell and Farish Beard both earned their 18th win of the season on Saturday. Hannah struck out four with only three hits, no walks and one earned run. Beard pitched three shutout innings in the second game while striking out five with only one hit and a walk.
On Sunday, the Jags blanked the Warhawks in a run-rule shorted finale to the weekend series by a score of 8-0. This was the first time in school history that the Jags swept a weekend series all by mercy-rule wins.
The lady Jags scored four runs in the top of the first inning with three consecutive singles by Fowler, Blair Johnson and Fagan. Fowler would score on Fagan’s base hit while the other two baserunners would score on a wild pitch and throwing error. Alex Breeden would get an RBI single to push Griffith across the plate.
Farish Beard pitched four innings to earn her 19th win of the season. She struck out seven and only allowed one hit and one walk. Hannah Campbell pitched two innings while striking out four with only one hit herself.
The Jags will round out the regular season when they play Troy three times this week. The first will be on Wednesday at Jaguar Field in Mobile then the final two games will be in Troy, Alabama in a doubleheader on Saturday on May 4th.
The Sun Belt Championship will begin on May 8th and will be hosted in Troy, Alabama. South Alabama continues to hold onto the top spot in the Sun Belt Conference with a 16-3 record ahead of Western Kentucky who has a 15-3 record in Sun Belt play. The Jags run their overall record to 40-7 on the season.
The Lady Jaguars are #17 in RPI, is ranked #20 in the USA Today coaches poll and is ranked #21 in ESPN.com poll.