Farish Beard struck out 13 and allowed two hits as No. 22 South Alabama softball beat Louisiana-Monroe 8-1 in its opening game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The win advances the Jaguars to a matchup with top-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette in Game 8 at 2 p.m. Friday, with a spot in Saturday’s championship game at stake. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.
Beard Dominates
Beard’s 13 strikeouts were two shy of her career high. The Warhawks’ only hits were a bunt single and a run-scoring chopper up the middle, and Beard walked one batter.
After Louisiana-Monroe scored in the third inning, Beard retired 12 of the final 13 batters she faced. She improved to 21-5 and has 202 strikeouts this season.
Five-Run Second Inning
South Alabama scored all eight of its runs in the second and third innings.
Emily Messer started the five-run second with an RBI single that scored Gwen Jones from third base. Two straight Louisiana-Monroe errors then produced four more runs. The first came on a fly ball to left field by Stephanie Pilkington. The second was a wide throw to first base that allowed Blair Johnson to reach and brought home Kaitlyn Griffith and Messer, making it 5-0.
Louisiana-Monroe got its only run in the top of the third on back-to-back two-out singles.
Jaguars Answer in the Third
South Alabama responded in the bottom half. Alyssa Linn and Amanda Minahan singled, and a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Rodgers moved both runners into scoring position. Messer singled home Linn, and Griffith followed with a two-run double up the middle that scored Minahan and Messer for the final margin.
Leading Hitters
Messer went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Griffith was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored and was hit by a pitch. Minahan went 2-for-2 with a run scored.
Amanda Herron, Linn, Jones and Rodgers also scored runs for South Alabama.
Up Next
South Alabama, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, is seeking its third consecutive Sun Belt Tournament championship. The Jaguars face Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 p.m. Friday.
