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Box Score - South Alabama 7, Central Arkansas 4

Box Score - South Alabama 10, Jackson State 2 (5 inn.)

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MOBILE, Ala. – With wins over Central Arkansas and Jackson State on Sunday, the University of South Alabama softball team posted a perfect 5-0 record at the Mardi Gras Invitational, but, more importantly, moved to 8-1 on the season – the program’s best start since its inception in 2007.
 
USA defeated UCA, 7-4, in the first half of Sunday’s doubleheader, scoring four runs in the fifth inning to break a 2-2 tie. The Jaguars recorded their third run-rule victory against the Tigers to wrap up the tournament when they handed JSU a 10-2, five-inning loss.
 
Hannah Campbell was named tournament MVP after she recorded her second save of the weekend, pitching two innings of relief against the Bears on Sunday to secure the USA victory. Against Ole Miss on Saturday, H. Campbell struck out four of the final eight Rebel batters to end the game, USA 4-2.
 
H. Campbell posted a tournament record of 1-0 and ERA of 2.03, while striking out eight and allowing only eight hits in 10.1 innings pitched.
 
Britany Campbell, Julie Moss and Meghan Collins each had big days on Sunday en route to making the all-tournament team. B. Campbell went 6-for-13 on the weekend with six runs scored, and inside-the-park homer run and three extra-base hits. Moss batted .538 to lead the squad and went 7-for-13 with four RBI, two doubles and her first homer of the season. Collins hit .444 with three doubles, four RBI and a homer of her own.
 
USA will next travel to Thibodaux, La., to take on Nicholls State in a midweek matchup on Wednesday. The Jaguars are 6-5 versus NSU all-time and beat the Colonels 8-2 last season.
 
Collins paces the club in batting average, having recorded a .353 through eight games. She is 6-for-17 overall, with seven runs scored, three doubles and a team-leading 10 RBI. After this weekend, B. Campbell is second with a .350, tied with Moss, who had the best showing of her career this weekend.
 
H. Campbell leads the pitching staff with a 1.03 ERA in 20.1 total innings pitched. She is 2-1 on the year with 20 strikeouts. Farish Beard is a perfect 4-0 this season with 27 strikeouts and a shutout in 23.1 innings.
 
USA previously went 4-0 in 2011 before eventually giving up its first loss.
 
USA 7, Central Arkansas 4
The Jags opened up scoring versus UCA in the second inning when Moss and Haley Fagan hit consecutive singles and Alex Breeden hit a double to plate the pair, recording two of her seven RBI on the weekend.
 
The Bears made it 2-2 and inning later when Melissa Bryant laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved two UCA runners to second and third, respectively. Melissa’s twin sister, Melanie, followed with a double to left that scored the two equalizing runs. In the top of the fifth, UCA added another when Beard walked a Bear runner over home plate when she hit a batter with bases loaded.
 
USA cracked open the scoreline  in the fifth inning when B. Campbell reached on an error then stole second and Emily Messer reached on second after on an error that allowed the runner to score. With Messer still on and Brittany Fowler reaching on a hit-by-pitch, Collins stepped up and delivered a three-run shot to extend the USA lead to 6-2.
 
B. Campbell provided the final tally for USA in the sixth with an inside-the-park home run. The Phoenix, Ariz., native blasted the ball down the left field line and never hesitated, just beating the throw to home with a textbook slide across the plate for a 7-3 Jaguar lead.
 
The Bears scored a run in the top of the seventh Lissa Avitia brought Cristin Curl home with a single, but H. Campbell forced a foul out and pop up to end the game.
 
USA 10, Jackson State 2 (5 inn.)
Senior Jessica Dobson pitched four innings of hitless ball, allowing USA to build up a 3-0 lead, before JSU got on the board in the fifth frame after two Tiger baserunners, who got on from walks and were advanced a base each by a sacrifice bunt, were scored with a Jasmine Warren single to center field.
 
USA answered by pouring on seven runs in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a Fagan RBI single that scored Fowler, who walked, and a Moss single that scored Collins, who also walked. Breeden scored Moss on a sacrifice fly, and the bases were loaded when Kaitlyn Griffith was hit by a pitch, B. Campbell walked and pinch-hitter Alyssa Linn was hit. Blair Johnson got her second hit of the day and fifth of thr weekend when she singled up the middle to score two, making it 9-2. Clara Bowen came on to pinch hit and walked to load the bags. Linn then scored on a passed ball to make it the 10-2 final.
 
The Jags got its first run in the second frame from a JSU fielding error that scored Fagan after Griffith singled to center field. Runs two and three came off the bat of B. Campbell, who doubled to left to score Fagan and Moss. Fagan accounted for three USA runs during the game.
 
“I thought we played well enough to win today,” said USA head coach Becky Clark. “We need to have a little bit more energy [after successive games]; be working on the mental part a bit more. Our goal is to be a postseason team, and as you go through tournaments in the postseason, the teams get better and better, so you have to be better and better. We have to know what it takes to do that.”
 
 
Mardi Gras Invitational Tournament MVP
Hannah Campbell, LHP, Jr., USA
 
Mardi Gras Invitational All-Tournament Team
Britany Campbell, OF, USA
Julie Moss, OF, USA
Meghan Collins, IF, USA
Jasmine Warren, P/OF, JSU
Breea Jamerson, P/OF, JSU
Melissa Bryant, IF, UCA
Melanie Bryant, C, UCA
Allison Brown, IF, UM
RT Castillo, OF, UM
Stephanie Meeuwsen, IF, Lamar
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).