USA vs. McNeese State box score

USA vs. LSU box score

BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of South Alabama softball team downed McNeese State 3-0 before dropping their second game of the weekend to LSU 1-0 in Baton Rouge, La. at LSU’s Tiger Invitational.

Game 1 – USA 3, McNeese State 0

With three doubles and a base hit in the bottom of the third inning, USA was able to come out on top of the defensive battle 3-0 in the first game of the final day of the Tiger Invitational at Tiger Park.

“It was a great win,” said USA head coach Becky Clark. “That’s a very good team. McNeese State competes. They scrap every single pitch. Our kids did a great job of working every single pitch of that game.”

Hannah Campbell tossed a complete game for the Jaguars and recorded 10 strike outs advancing her to 3-4 on the year. After giving up one hit in the first inning, Campbell kept the Cowgirls hitless until the top of the fifth.

“Hannah did a great job on the mound,” Clark said. “She worked out of some tough situations coming back on short rest.”

McNeese State’s Meagan Bond pitched six innings falling to 7-4 for the season.

The Jaguars outhit the Cowgirls 5-4 with four of the five USA hits coming in the third inning. Freshman Alyssa Linn extended her hitting streak to seven games going 1-for-3 with one run against McNeese State. Senior Christin Crocker, juniors Meghan Collins and Brittany Fowler and sophomore Haley Richards recorded the four other Jaguar hits of the game.

“At the plate, we weren’t mashing the ball all over the place, but we got it done when we needed to and the defense was able to make it stand up. It was a great team win for us.”

Linn led off the bottom of the third with a double down the left field line and then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Blair Johnson. Fowler followed with another double down the left line plating Linn and putting the Jags on the board.

With two outs in the inning, Crocker hit South Alabama’s third double of the game to left field scoring Fowler. Richards followed with a hard-hit single up the middle which drove in Crocker giving USA the 3-0 lead which they held on to for the rest of the game.   

Game 2 – LSU 1, USA 0

The Jags outhit the Tigers 7-3, but could not finish, falling to LSU 1-0 in their second game of the day. Johnson had three of the seven South Alabama hits, while Linn, Fowler, Collins and senior Haley Hopkins had one each.

“Our goals yesterday and today were to compete, to play hard and to leave everything on the field, and I thought that’s what we did,” said Clark. “In this game, we outhit them 7-3. Katy (Neal) did a great job on the mound. She kept them off balance. We had the one mistake that gave up the run, but it was an aggressive mistake. We were trying to pick a kid off and the ball got away from us.

“I can’t say enough about the way the kids are playing right now,” Clark said. “They’re playing together, playing as a team, and playing extremely hard. It’s a lot of fun to be on the South Alabama softball team right now because these kids are just going after it. They’re just playing hard and leaving everything out on the field.”

Senior Katy Neal recorded her first loss of the season and fell to 2-1 while Rachele Fico, who is now 5-1, got the win. Both pitchers went the distance in the circle.

The Jaguars connected on two hits in the first inning, a double by Johnson and a single by Fowler, before Johnson was picked off trying to get home for the second out of the inning. Hopkins then flied out to right to end the inning.

LSU’s only run of the game and two of their three hits came in the bottom of the second. Rikki Alcaraz kicked off the inning with a double to center field, and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Dylan Supak. After Neal walked Morgan Russell, Hopkins attempted to pick off Alcaraz, but missed the throw allowing Alcaraz to score.

USA picked up two hits in the top of the third, one hit in the sixth and two more in the seventh inning.

South Alabama made a run at LSU’s 1-0 lead in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out in the inning. Richards hit a hard line drive to LSU third baseman Tammy Wray who was able to make the snag and then tag fowler out for the double play.

The Jags kept fighting into the seventh inning when Collins opened the visiting portion of the inning with a single. After a sacrifice bunt by freshman Alex Breeden, a walk for junior Britany Campbell and another Johnson single the bases were loaded with two outs. The Tigers’ second baseman, Alcaraz, grabbed a Fowler line drive out of the air to end the game and secure the win for LSU.

On March 2-4, the Jaguars will travel to Orlando, Fla. for five games at the Citrus Classic.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).