Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MOBILE, Ala. – Five combined home runs and 15 total runs scored propelled University of South Alabama softball to two colossal wins over No. 22/25 Louisiana at Lafayette on Saturday at Jaguar Field.
 
Clinching a regular-season series over the Ragin’ Cajuns for the first time since 2009, the Jaguars are 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play, 8-0 in Mobile and 23-4 on the year. The wins marked the third consecutive year that USA has clinched its three-game, conference-opening sets.
 
Senior Brittany Fowler was massive for USA on the day, batting .833 and recording three home runs, four runs scored and seven RBI. The Jacksonville, Fla., native went 5-for-6 on Saturday with a slugging percentage of 2.333, and her on-base percentage in the six at-bats was .857. She extended her club-leading home run total to six total this season.
 
Freshman Haley Fagan took two pitches over the wall for four total RBI, swelling her team-lead in runs batted in to 20. She batted .333 with a slugging percentage of 1.333.
 
Hannah Campbell and Farish Beard each pitched complete games on Saturday, the former striking out two to move to 10-4 on the year, and the latter striking out three and allowing only four ULL hits to move to a perfect 10-0.
 
USA batted .339 in the two games to ULL’s .241, outscoring the visitors 15-7, and outhitting them 19-13, 11-4 in the second game. ULL committed four errors on the day.
 
ULL is now 18-11 this year and 1-4 in league play. Ragin’ Cajun ace Jordan Wallace took the loss in the first contest after giving up all runs earned and eight USA hits, and Victoria Brown’s unblemished record was spoiled, as she dropped to 4-1 in the second game, giving up four earned runs on 11 hits.
 
The final game of the series is slated for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday. Live streaming will be available for the game through the All-Access section at USAJaguars.com. Live stats for all South Alabama softball games are available through the multimedia section at USAJaguars.com.
 
USA 7, Louisiana at Lafayette 3
ULL opened the scoreline with in the third inning of the first game when centerfielder Briana Cherry, the Ragin’ Cajuns leader at the plate, doubled to right center. The next batter, catcher Sarah Draheim, then blasted an 0-1 pitch over left center for a brief ULL lead.
 
Sophomore Alyssa Linn pinch hit for Alex Breeden and drew a walk to lead off the home half of the same frame. Britany Campbell and Blair Johnson followed with singles through the right side to put Fowler at the dish with three on with one out. Facing an 0-2 count, Fowler ripped her first grand slam of the season over the left field wall to put the Jags ahead 4-2.
 
ULL shortstop Samantha Walsh singled in the top of the fourth, but B. Campbell snagged a liner to center and threw her out at first for a double play to disrupt a ULL counter.
 
The visitors could only inch closer with one run in the top of the fifth, before USA tacked on three more in the bottom half on Fagan’s homer that scored Fowler and Julie Moss.
 
Louisiana led off the top of the seventh with consecutive singles, but third baseman Fagan corralled a Cherry grounder, stepped on third for the force out and threw the batter out at first for a double play, and then threw out Linzey Cifreo at first to end the game.
 
USA 8, Louisiana at Lafayette 4
A testy start to the second game left USA down a run after Beard hit two batters and walked one before a fielder’s choice scored Cherry from third, but Fowler put the hosts ahead with her second bomb of the day, a two-run shot that banged the scoreboard in left center, scoring Johnson who singled just before.
 
With two away in the top of the second, a Draheim single scored two ULL runs, putting the visitors ahead 4-3, but USA once again equalized a half-inning later when Linn scored her second run of the day after she singled, moved to third on Fowler’s base knock and scored when Collins should have been thrown to end the frame, had the throw from ULL’s third baseman not been bobbled at first.
 
Walsh led off the fourth with a solo homer to give Louisiana its third lead of the game, but B. Campbell scored in the home half to tie it up again. She reached on a the second error by Ragin’ Cajun first baseman Kelsey Vincent, and then rounded the bags on a Linn sacrifice bunt and Johnson and Fowler’s consecutive singles.
 
Fagan and Fowler each homered to lead off the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, as USA piled on four runs in the two frames to pull away from the five-time defending regular season champion Ragin’ Cajuns. Pilkington and Griffith also scored in the latter for an 8-4 Jaguar lead as the sun fell over the tree line at Jaguar Field.
 
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).