Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – No. 24 University of South Alabama softball welcomes Oklahoma State, Lipscomb, Butler and Evansville to Jaguar Field this weekend for the fifth annual 2015 Mardi Gras Invitational, which features 11 total fixtures over three days.
 
The Jaguars (3-2) open the event with a 5 p.m. contest versus the Cowgirls (0-3) on Friday, Feb. 13 before facing Lipscomb (3-1) and Butler (2-2) on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., respectively. USA closes out the tournament with a 12:15 p.m. matchup versus Evansville (1-4). In-game updates are provided for each Jaguar contest via the program's official Twitter handle @USAJaguarSports.
 
Live stats for each contest throughout the weekend can be found via links provided on the Jaguar softball schedule page. Live video stream and play-by-play by Braden Cheek will be available on Friday and Sunday.
 
South Alabama will look to build off a 3-1 showing at the 2015 Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores, Ala., last weekend, where the Jaguars downed Liberty, McNeese State and Houston. USA opened the 2015 campaign with a dramatic showdown against No. 3 Alabama in Mobile, taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning before giving up a pair of seventh-inning runs to fall, 2-1, to last year's Women's College World Series runners-up.
 
The Jaguars are 10-0 over the past two seasons at the Mardi Gras Invitational and will look to make their case for remaining in the nation's top 25, after slipping this week to No. 24 and No. 25 in the USAToday/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls, respectively.
 
"It was a good start for us last week, but we can certainly get better," said USA head coach Becky Clark. "We have to get more consistent with our physical and mental approach and give more effort to get to the level we need to be at."
 
Freshman right-handed pitcher Devin Brown made the most of her first collegiate weekend, earning Sun Belt Conference Pitcher-of-the-Week honors after going 2-1 with a save and 29 strikeouts over 16 1/3 innings in Gulf Shores. She threw a one-hit shutout in her debut, an 8-0, run-rule Jaguar victory versus Liberty on Friday.
 
She sat down both McNeese State batters she faced with bases loaded to secure a 5-1 USA win on Saturday and gave up only a single earned run against Houston a day later to allow the Jaguar offense an opportunity to construct its seventh-inning, come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Cougars. Brown struck out 11 batters in that contest.
 
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS OPPONENTS
South Alabama is 2-0 versus Lipscomb and 1-0 versus Oklahoma State and Evansville. USA will take on Butler for the first time in program history.
 
The Jaguars defeated Lipscomb at the 2010 and '12 Mardi Gras Invitationals by scores of 3-2 and 6-1, respectively. At the 2014 Cowgirl Classic in Stillwater, Okla., USA took down Oklahoma State, 5-1. The Jaguars run-ruled Evansville, 18-0, at the 2011 South Alabama Invitational, in a contest which still stands as USA's largest scoring output and margin of victory.

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).