TROY, Ala. — Kaitlyn Griffith went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI as second-seeded South Alabama beat seventh-seeded Troy 5-1 Wednesday night in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament at the Troy Softball Complex.
The victory improved the Jaguars to 42-7, the most wins in program history, and gave South Alabama a 2-0 record against Troy this season. In April, Farish Beard threw the first no-hitter of her career in a shutout of the Trojans at Jaguar Field.
The tournament opener was South Alabama’s first game in nearly two weeks. The Jaguars scored all five of their runs on seven hits in the first three innings.
Griffith Starts the Scoring
South Alabama took control in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Julie Moss and Haley Fagan hit back-to-back singles, and Griffith followed with her ninth home run of the season for a 3-0 lead.
Griffith, a sophomore second baseman, was named a first-team All-Sun Belt at-large selection this week. Moss was also a first-team All-Sun Belt pick, and Fagan was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.
Two More in the Third
Brittany Fowler, the Sun Belt Player of the Year, led off the bottom of the third with a double to left-center field. She scored on a Blair Johnson single when Troy’s right fielder mishandled the ball, and Johnson later came home on a passed ball to make it 5-0.
Campbell Earns 19th Win
Troy scored its only run in the top of the fourth on a walk and back-to-back singles.
Starter Hannah Campbell then retired nine of the final 11 batters she faced. She struck out five and allowed one earned run to earn her 19th win of the season. Her 0.94 ERA remains the best in the nation.
Rematch With Louisiana-Lafayette Next
South Alabama advances to face third-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The game is a rematch of last season’s Sun Belt championship game, in which the Jaguars won the first conference championship in program history.
Louisiana-Lafayette reached the second round with an extra-inning win over FIU on Wednesday.
South Alabama’s athletics website will carry a free radio broadcast of the game, along with live video and statistics in its multimedia section.
