South Alabama’s baseball and softball teams both won Sun Belt Conference series over the weekend. The No. 22 Jaguar softball team took two of three games at Troy to close the regular season, and the baseball team swept Georgia Southern to move into first place in the conference standings.
Softball: Troy Takes Opener
Troy scored five unanswered runs, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, to win the first game 6-3.
South Alabama built a two-run lead in the top of the second. Chloe Rathburn scored when senior Blair Johnson doubled to right-center and a throwing error followed on an attempt to get Rathburn at the plate. Johnson later scored on an infield single by freshman Haleigh Lowe.
Troy cut the lead in half on a wild pitch by Farish Beard. South Alabama went ahead 3-1 in the top of the fourth when senior first baseman Amanda Herron executed a squeeze, scoring senior Gwen Jones, who was pinch running for Rathburn. Troy answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning.
Beard (9-4) took the loss, allowing five earned runs on seven hits with a walk in 3 2/3 innings. Freshman right-hander Devin Brown allowed one run on one hit with a walk and five strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of relief.
Johnson went 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Rathburn was 1-for-2 with a run.
Griffith Sets Season Record in Game Two
The second game was a pitchers’ duel through six innings. South Alabama stranded three runners in the first two innings and went down in order in the next three. Troy managed only one baserunner in its first five innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Troy’s Heather Johnson led off with a single through the left side, and Kayler reached on a bunt single, but Johnson was thrown out trying to reach third. Kate Benton followed with a single up the middle, and Amanda Minahan threw Benton out at the plate on Becca Hartley’s base hit to center field. Kalen McGill induced a groundout to end the inning without allowing a run.
Rathburn opened the top of the seventh with a double off the left-field wall, and Kaitlyn Griffith followed with a go-ahead two-run home run. It was Griffith’s 12th home run of the season, a South Alabama single-season record. McGill retired Troy in order in the bottom of the seventh to finish the win.
Jaguars Clinch Series Sunday
Troy took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of Sunday’s finale. Benton led off with an infield single and later scored when a throw from Emily Messer sailed past Herron at first base and down the right-field line.
South Alabama tied the game in the second when Griffith drew a leadoff walk and scored on Herron’s double to right field. In the fourth, Herron drew a one-out walk and Jones entered to pinch run. Minahan singled and took second on the throw home. Lowe grounded out to second to score Jones, and Messer followed with an infield single to score Minahan for a 3-1 lead.
McGill pitched out of trouble in each of the next two innings. South Alabama added an insurance run in the sixth when Johnson reached on a leadoff error and scored on a fielder’s choice by Minahan to make it 4-1, which held as the final score.
McGill (16-2), a freshman right-hander, earned her second complete-game victory of the series. She allowed one unearned run on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Stephanie Pilkington went 2-for-4. Herron was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Messer went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Minahan was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Next: Sun Belt Tournament
South Alabama finished the regular season 35-10 overall and 16-4 in Sun Belt play. The Jaguars are the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, scheduled for May 6-9 in San Marcos, Texas.
Baseball: Sweep of Georgia Southern
The South Alabama baseball team completed its second consecutive Sun Belt series sweep by taking all three games from Georgia Southern.
Right-hander Kevin Hill struck out 12 in his second straight complete game as the Jaguars won the opener 7-1. Hill allowed one run on five hits with two walks and earned his eighth consecutive win.
In the second game, South Alabama trailed by three runs entering the sixth inning before sending 14 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs. The Jaguars did not trail again. Left-hander Joey Jones (1-0) earned his first career win at South Alabama, walking two in two-thirds of an inning.
South Alabama completed the sweep with an 11-4 win in the finale, scoring multiple runs in four innings and collecting 13 hits.
Jaguars Move Into First Place
The sweep improved South Alabama to 32-17 overall and 17-7 in the Sun Belt and moved the Jaguars into first place in the conference. Georgia State (27-20, 14-8), Louisiana-Lafayette (30-17, 14-9) and Georgia Southern (27-21, 16-11) trail in the standings.
