Walk-Off Grand Slam Advances #1 UL-Lafayette Past #4 WKU In SBC Tournament
The top seeded Ragin’ Cajuns went to the bottom of the seventh inning trailing #4 seed Western Kentucky 3-1 when sophomore Shellie Landry hit a walk-off grand slam to give ULL the win 5-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Cajuns loaded the bases on back-to-back singles from sophomores Haley Hayden and Lexie Elkins then a walk from Sophomore Samantha Walsh loaded the bases for Landry.
Landry fell behind 0-2 in the count, then took a pair of pitches to event the count a 2-2. She then hit the next pitch over the left-center wall to advance to face the #2 seeded South Alabama Jaguars for a spot in the Championship game.
Senior hilltopper Emily Rousseau (18-17) gave up six hits and five earned runs with six walks in the game. She also struck out three after pitching the entire game. Lafayette’s Christina Hamilton (23-1) also pitched a complete game and allowed six hits, one earned run while walking one and striking out three.
The two teams in the losers bracket, #4 WKU and #6 UL-Monroe, will face on at 11:00AM on Friday in an elimination game. The winner will advance to face the loser of game 8 between the #1 ULL and #2 USA in another elimination game at 5:00pm on Friday. Both games will be on ESPN3 and the Sun Belt Network.
Saturday at 3:00pm is the Championship game that will also be televised by the Sun Belt Network and ESPN3.
Jaguar Softball Advances To Face Top Seed ULL In SBC Tournament
Junior Farish Beard (21-5) struck out 13 against Louisiana-Monroe in the third round of the SBC Tournament, two shy if tying her career-high of 15 in a game. | Photo usajaguars.com
Farish Beard led the #22 ranked Jaguars past Louisiana-Monroe in their first game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with an 8-1 win over the Warhawks.
Beard struck out 13 in the game, finishing the game just two strikeouts shy of her career-high. She only allowed two hits on the game, a bunt single and an RBI chopper up the middle while only walking one batter as her record improves to 21-5 with 202 strikeouts on the season.
Emily Messer went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of RBI and runs scored. Kaitlyn Griffith went 2-for-2 with two RBI, a run scored and was hit by a pitch. Amanda Minahan also went 2-for-2 with a run scored and a sacrifice bunt.
Amanda Herron, Alyssa Linn, Gwen Jones and Taylor Rodgers all scored runs as well.
The team scored all of their runs in the second and third innings beginning with a five run second inning. Messer hit her first RBI when she singled to score Jones from third. Then back-to-back Warhawk errors let the Jags score four more runs to take a 5-0 lead. The first error was on Stephanie Pilkington’s fly out to left field. The second was a wide throw to first which allowed Blair Johnson to reach base and scoring Griffith and Messer.
In the top of the third inning ULM would scratch their only run across on back-to-back two-out singles with the second pushing the former across.
Then in the bottom of the third the Jags picked right back up where they left off the bottom of the second. Linn and Minahan both singled then Rodgers sacrifice bunt put them both in scoring position. Messer then hit her second RBI single of the day plated Linn. Then Griffith’s two-RBI double up the middle would score Minahan and Messer to make up the Jags 8-1 victory score.
Beard would then retire 12 of the Warhawks final 13 batters as they prepare to face top seeded UL-Lafayette in Game 8 on Friday at 2:00pm on ESPN3 to advance to the champion game on Saturday.
Thrilling Endings And Upsets Mark Day One Of SBC Softball Tournament
The first day of the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship was full of excitement and upsets.
In game one, #6 seed UL-Monroe rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning from a 2-1 deficit. After loading the bases, a sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-2 then a wild pitch allowed the winning run to score as the Warhawks advanced by a score of 3-2.
In game two, #8 seed UT-Arlington earned its first SBC Softball Championship victory with an upset win over #5 seeded Texas State by a score of 5-1. Texas State scored first, but UT-Arlington reponded right away to tie the game. Then it was all Mavericks the rest of the way.
Game three pitted #6 UL-Monroe against #3 Georgia State with the Warhawks using their earlier game to help propel them to an upset of the Panthers in extra innings.
Just hours after their thrilling walkoff win over Troy, they took the Panthers into extra innings. In the top of the ninth inning the leadoff hitter was walked then a sacrifice bunt moved her to second base. Then freshman Hollie Letorneau hit a game-winning RBI single up the middle to score the winning run.
GSU left 12 runners on base in the game.
Game four had first round winner #8 seed UT-Arlington facing off against #4 seed Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers senior pitcher Emily Rousseau only allowed two hits as the ‘toppers knocked off the Mavericks 6-1 to advance to day two of the SBC Tournament.
Rousseau tossed all seven innings with only two hits in 28 batters faced. She only gave up one unearned run in the sixth inning after a single made it through the right side of the infield.
Day two of the tournament begins the double-elimination format. Game five will take place a 2:00pm with #2 seeded South Alabama facing the #6 seed UL-Monroe. The winner advances to take on the winner of game 6 that gets underway at 5:00pm between #1 seeded UL-Lafayette and #4 seed Western Kentucky.
The loser of games five and six will move to the losers bracket to face each other in an elimination game at 11am on Friday morning. The winners of game five and six will advance to face each other at 2:00pm on Friday in an ESPN3 televised game for the right to advance into the SBC Championship game.
Five Jaguars Named To All-Sun Belt Team; Softball Program Earns Academic Award
The University of South Alabama’s Softball team had five student-athletes named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team on Tuesday at its Family Night gathering at Lamson Park in Lafayette, Louisiana prior to the beginning of the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Tournament that gets underway on Wednesday.
Four Jaguars were named to the First-Team with one being named to the Second-Team. All of the postseason awards are voted on by the conference’s eight head coaches.
Farish Beard, Hannah Campbell, Stephanie Pilkington and Chloe Rathburn were all named as First-Team honorees. Blair Johnson was named as a Second-Team honoree.
Beard was an at-large selection to the first team after compiling a 20-5 record on the regular season with a 1.04 ERA. She was also named one of the top-25 finalist for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award earlier this season. During a three week stretch she led the nation in ERA and for two weeks she led the nation in hits allowed per seven innings. She was a three-time SBC Player of the Week this season and finished the year leading the Sun Belt in opposing batting average, hits allowed, runs allowed and raking second in ERA, strikeouts and walks allowed.
Campbell was named the first-team honoree at the pitcher position after a 16-5 season with a 0.94 ERA and also joining Beard as a top-25 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. She also became the first student-athlete in USA softball history to be drafted in the National Pro Fastpitch draft. She ranks fourth in the NCAA in ERA and walks allowed per seven innings and leads the Sun Belt in ERA, saves, walks allowed and home runs allowed.
Pilkington was named as a first-team outfielder after she finished the season as the team leader in batting average, hits, sacrifice hits and triples. She also ranked second on the team in RBI. She was named the SBC Player of the Week on March 31. She also led the team in multi-hit games and multi-RBI games.
Rathburn earned first-team honors at the designated player position after she led the team in RBI, slugging percentage, total bases and sacrifice flies. She also ranked second on the team in home runs. She is currently in the midst of a 16 game hitting streak. The freshman went 1-for-2 in her collegiate debut with three RBI and a home run.
Johnson earned Second-Team honors at outfielder after leading the team with a .354 batting average in Sun Belt play. She is second on the team in hits, sacrifice hits and sacrifice flies. As a junior she had 11 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games while being honored as the SBC Player of the Week on February 24 after a stellar performance in the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Florida where she had a perfect 4-for-4 game with four RBI against Lehigh to set single-game records for both stats.
Additionally the Jaguars were the recipient of the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Team Academic Award after compiling a 3.36 GPA last season. The award is granted to the team for its overall achievement in the classroom during the previous academic year. The formula is: quality points = grade X credit hours/# of individuals.
The #2 seeded Jaguars will begin their attempt to win the SBC Tournament for the third consecutive season on Thursday. The tournament gets underway today with four games in a single-elimination format before becoming a double-elimination tournament on Thursday. In the final regular-season poll the Jaguars slipped to #22/23 in the two major polls.
All of the games throughout the tournament will be broadcast live on the Sun Belt Digital Network. Games eight and nine along with the championship at 3pm on Saturday will be broadcast on ESPN3.com and will be available through the WatchESPN app.
Men’s Golf Earn Berth In NCAA Regional For Second Consecutive Season
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
The South Alabama Men’s Golf Team learned on Monday that they have earned a berth in the NCAA Regional Tournament for the second-consecutive season after earning an at-large bid.
The Jags will be seeded #9 among 13 other schools in the field of the NCAA Raleigh Regional. This is one of six regionals taking place nationally starting on Thursday, May 15. The top eight teams in the regional are among the top 50 nationally in the most recent Golfstat ratings.
The tournament will be held at Lonnie Poole Golf Course and will include, in order of seeding: 1. Georgia Tech, 2. Washington, 3. Florida State, 4. Texas A&M, 5. Mercer, 6. Kentucky, 7. Texas Tech, 8. Wake Forest, 9. South Alabama, 10. Memphis, 11. Minnesota, 12. Rice, 13. Bethune-Cookman.
There will also be 10 extra individuals competing: J.T. Poston (West Carolina), Evan Russell (Hartford), Franco Castro (UNC-Charlotte), Brandon Matthews (Temple), Richard Fountain (Davidson), Eric Brady (East Carolina), Andrew Dorn (Coastal Carolina), Ben Wheeler (Coastal Carolina), Sean Bosdosh (Maryland) and Zach Seabolt (Winthrop).
The top five schools and the individuals that finish highest not on those teams, will move on to compete in the NCAA Championships on May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.
This season USA placed in the top three at six of their 12 tournament this season and finished at or below par as a team on three occasions.
This is South Alabama’s eighth all-time NCAA Regional appearance and the first time since 1994 and ’95 that they have qualified for it in consecutive seasons.
2014 SBC Softball Championship Tournament Bracket
The 2014 SBC Tournament Bracket. | Image: sunbeltsports.org
The bracket is set for the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Championship Softball Tournament and South Alabama will attempt to win their third-consecutive tournament title.
The first day will be single-elimination then starting with the second day, it will be a double-elimination tournament.
Louisiana-Lafayette claimed the #1 seed while the Jaguars claimed the #2 seed. Both teams will have byes in the first and second rounds and will get underway in the third round.
The #3 seed goes to Georgia State and #4 seed is Western Kentucky. Both of those teams will have a bye in the first round and will begin play in the second round.
Seeded #5 is Texas State who will face #8 seeded UT-Arlington on Wednesday at 12:30pm in game two of the tournament.
Seeded #6 is UL-Monroe who will face off against #7 seeded Troy. They play in game one of the tournament scheduled for 10:00am on Wednesday.
Game 3 will have Georgia State facing off against the winnger of Game one at 3:00pm on Wednesday and game 4 will have WKU face the winner of Game 2 at 5:30pm on Wednesday.
Game 5 on Thursday at 2:00pm will have the Jaguars facing off against the winner of game 3 while UL-Lafayette will play in game 6 against the winner of game 4 on Thursday evening at 5:00pm.
Game 7 will begin the losers bracket with the loser of game 5 squaring off against the loser of game 6 in an elimination game on Friday at 11:00am.
Game 8 will pit the winner of game 5 against the winner of game 6.
Game 9 elimination game will pit the winner of the game 7 elimination game against the loser from game 8 at 5:00pm on Friday.
Championship Saturday will get underway at 3:00pm with the two final teams in the first of potentially two games to determine the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Rewind
Baseball
South Alabama lost the weekend series against Georgia State two games to one to drop their overall record to 21-26 and their conference record to 10-13.
USA’s Locke St. John threw his first career complete game to lead the Jaguars over the Panthers of Georgia State by a score of 8-1 in the first game of a three game series Friday evening.
St. John (6-1) allowed only one run on four hits while striking out six and only walking one for his sixth win of the season. St. John also retired the final 11 batters in the game and did not allow a hit over the final 17 batters of the game.
His complete game was the first by a Jaguars since Jarron Cito against Florida International over two years ago on April 29, 2012.
In game two the Panthers scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to defeating the Jaguars 7-4.
On Sunday the Jaguars lost the rubber match in a 15-10 game.
Georgia State had 16 hits in the game and was led by Chase Rattfield who went 3-for-6 with a home run, six RBI and three runs scored.
Eight Jaguars recorded at least one hit with six of them collecting multiple hits. Andrew Tindell led the Jags with career highs in hits and RBI going 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Cole Gleason went 2-for-6 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Davis Knapp went 2-for-5 with two RBI.
USA’s Brandon Hallford (3-2) took the loss by allowing six runs on six hits with two strikeouts and and three walks in 2 2/3 innings of relief.
GSU improved to 23-25 overall and 9-15 in conference play.
USA will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette to open a three game series against the #3 ranked Ragin’ Cajuns.
The Jags continue to hold onto sixth place in the SBC standings and are two-and-a-half games back for a tie against Western Kentucky and UT Arlington for fourth place with six conference games left in the regular season before the Sun Belt Conference Tournament takes place at Eddie Stanky Field.
NOTE: Errors were corrected from the original post. In the original version it was reported that USA won the game on Sunday and won the series when they actually lost the game and the series on Sunday. I want to thank twitter user @TinkWMobile for pointing that out to us for us to correct. We strive to accurately report all news and when we are wrong we try to let our readers know about it.
Softball
The 21st ranked Jaguars concluded the regular season on Saturday with a double-header against Troy at Jaguar Field. The Jags split the double header but won the series since they won their earlier match up against the Trojans. They enter the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with the second overall seed.
In the first game on Saturday USA could only manage two hits while the Trojans were able to muster five hits. The Trojans were able to slip a run across the plate in the top of the fifth inning on a fielding error when first baseman Amanda Herron dropped a two-out groundout attempt. That allowed Bria Epps, pinch running for starting pitcher Ashley Rainey, to score from third.
Julie Moss, who has not seen action since breaking her arm against UAB on February 19, pinch hit for Taylor Rodgers in the bottom of the sixth and ended Rainey’s no-hitter with a single to shallow center field. Rainey then retired three consecutive Jaguars to strand Moss on base.
USA loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh after Chloe Rathburn singled, Alex Breeden walked and Amanda Minahan reached on a fielding error. However Herron popped out and Rodgers hit into a fielders choice that forced Breeden out at third.
Hannah Campbell took the loss to fall to 16-5 on the season. She allowed five hits and one unearned run with nine strikeouts and no walks.
In game two the Jags jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first three innings after Breeden hit a two-out RBI single to score Blair Johnson, who reached on a fielders choice. Johnson doubled in the bottom of the third inning to score Pilkington after she drew a leadoff walk.
The Trojans answered with two solo home runs from Erica Davis and Meg Willis in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game a 2-all.
The Jags led off the bottom of the third inning with three consecutive singles by Lin, Rodgers and Messer with Messer’s scoring Linn from second base.
Troy would very nearly tie the game in the top of the fifth after Kacie McAllister reached on a two-out single, would be brought home by Amanda Winters’ double to right field, however a perfectly placed set of throws from Minahan from right field to the relay from Rodgers to Breeden at home plate would tag McAllister out at home plate.
Farish Beard would then retire six of the final seven Trojans to step up to the plate as she allowed two earned runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and one walk. The Jags did commit an error in the game, but it did not result in a run.
The Jags finish the season with an overall record of 38-11 and 15-6 in Sun Belt Play. The Jags will next travel to Lafayette for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament beginning on Wednesday. We will have the tournament bracket up this evening.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Preview
Softball
The 21st ranked Jaguar Softball team will conclude their season with a double-header on Saturday starting at 1pm at Jaguar Field.
The Jags will host Troy on Senior Day with Julie Moss and Hannah Campbell both being honored as the lone seniors on the team this season.
The Jags have locked up the 2nd seed in the Sun Belt Conference championships that get underway on May 7 in Lafayette, Louisiana. ULL locked up the top seed for the Championship as well as they are set to host the Tournament.
Come out and show your support to the seniors and the rest of the team as they finish the season strong heading into postseason play!
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team will be in Atlanta for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series against Georgia State.
They will get started at 5pm Central tonight with left-hander Locke St. John (5-1) taking the mound for the Jaguars to face off against fellow lefty Kenny Anderson (4-3).
Game two on Saturday will start at 1pm with right-hander Kevin Hill (3-5) taking the mound against fellow righty Nathan Bates (1-2).
The finale on Sunday will start at noon with Hunter Soleymani (0-2) going against Aidan McLaughlin (1-1).
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Three Jaguar Men’s Golfers Earn All-SBC Honors
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
Three Jaguar Men’s Golfers were earned Sun Belt Conference recognition for their season on Thursday.
Junior Michael Garretson was named the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Golfer of the Year. In addition, fellow junior Tyler Klava was named to the first-team All-Sun Belt team while senior Lane Hulse was named to the second-team All-Sun Belt Team.
This is the 24th consecutive year that USA has been represented by at least one All-Conference student-athlete.
Garretson from Acworth, Georgia led the Jags with nine top-20 finishes in 12 events this season. Seven of those were top-10 finishes. He also had a 72.61 stroke average that ranked second in the conference. In September, he was the SBC Golfer of the Month after tying for third in the Sam Hall Intercollegiate and tying for second one week later at the Columbia Regional Preview. Garretson was ninth at The Invitational at The Ocean Course and tied for ninth at the Samford Intercollegiate while helping the Jags finish second and first respectively at those events. His 6-under-par 65 and 8-under-par 205 at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate were the lowest 18 and 54-hole scores posted by a Jaguar this season.
This is the second consecutive season that Garretson was named to the first-team All-Conference team.
Klava from Pace, Florida also had a 72.61 scoring average and led the league by 0.005 of a point after recording top-10 finishes in each of the Jaguars’ last three events. He tied for second in the Sun Belt Championship with a 5-under-par 211 total for three rounds which was highlighted by a season-low 4-under 68 on the opening day of the tournament. He finished second on the team with five top-10 finishes and seven top-20 finishes with 16 rounds of par or better.
He is the third member of the program to earn All-SBC honors on at least three occasions under head coach Ben Hannan and joined Jonny Caldwell and Jack Hiluta in that honor.
Hulse from Fordyce, Arkansas posted a career low 73.75 stroke average which was third on the team and 14th in the conference. He posted three top-10 finishes, all this spring, and was in the top-20 on five occasions in his final season for the Jaguars. He led the Jags in its win at Samford while tying for second in the individual standings while his other top-10 results helped the Jags finish second at both the Memphis Intercollegiate and the SBC Championship.
He shot a low round of 2-under 69 at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate and a career-best 3-under 213 three-round total at the AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic in October.
Their efforts on the course have helped the Jaguars to finish in the top-three six times this season and to finish the season ranked 54th according to the most recent GolfStat rating.
Monday morning they will find out if they have received an invitation to play in the NCAA Regional.
Softball Drops One Spot Going Into Final Weekend Of Regular Season And Senior Day
USA’s Softball team fell one spot in both of the Top-25 polls this week as they head into their final two games of the regular season this weekend.
They are now ranked 21st in both the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll and also the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll. In both polls, Auburn moved ahead of the Jaguars to claim the 20th spot.
The top spot in the state continues to be the University of Alabama at #5/#6 in the ESPN.com and USA Today polls respectively with a 42-9 record.
USA will wrap up the regular season on Saturday in a double-header at Jaguar Field against the Trojans of Troy with the games slated to begin at 1pm and 3pm.
It is also Senior Day on Saturday, so come out to Jaguar Field, wear red and show Julie Moss and Hannah Campbell how much we appreciate how much they have done for the softball program and the heights that they have help push it to.
With their sweep of Western Kentucky last weekend the Jags are locked in at the #2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Championships.