TROY, Ala. – No. 22 University of South Alabama softball senior shortstop Kaitlyn Griffith set a new program standard in home runs in a season with her 12^th on Saturday, the record-breaking bomb supplying the Jaguars a 2-0 Sun Belt Conference victory after Troy took game one, 6-3.
 
USA (34-10, 15-4 SBC) tries to clinch its fifth league series on Sunday in a 1 p.m. finale to conclude the regular season. No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette clinched the league's regular-season title on Saturday with two defeats of Louisiana-Monroe. The Ragin' Cajuns claim the top seed in the 2015 SBC Tournament, scheduled for May 6-9 in San Marcos, Texas, while the Jaguars will be the two seed.
 
Jaguar freshman right-hander Kalen McGill (15-2) recorded her 15^th victory of the season in game two with a complete-game shutout, striking out a season-high eight batters and allowing four Trojan hits, all coming in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one Jaguar fielding error in game two, the Gainesville, Fla., native retired 19 of the 24 batters she faced.
 
Troy (32-21, 14-8 SBC) scored five unanswered runs to take game one, powered by catcher Hannah Day's three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth.
 
"I'm proud of our kids for coming back after dropping the first game," said USA head coach Becky Clark. "[Trojan senior Jaycee] Affeldt did a good job of keeping us off-balance in the first game. When had some really good at-bats and hit the ball hard, but we couldn't string the hits together when we needed to. The difference in game two was that we got the big hit when we needed it. McGill threw a great game, one of the best ones she's thrown all year.
 
"We've got to carry this momentum into tomorrow," Clark continued. "We had to work hard for both games, and we've got to work for every single pitch tomorrow as well."
 
GAME ONE – No. 22 South Alabama 3, Troy 6
Jaguar sophomore designated player Chloe Rathburn scored one of two Jaguar runs in the top of the second, coming around on senior left fielder Blair Johnson's double to right center and a subsequent Trojan throwing error that hit the backstop in a throwing attempt at the plate.
 
Johnson later scored on freshman right fielder Haleigh Lowe's infield single.
 
Trojan shortstop Kate Benton cut the Jaguar lead In half in the bottom of the third when she scored on a wild Farish Beard pitch from third after she got on with a one-out single to left center, advanced to second on a Jaguar throwing error and moved to third on an illegal pitch.
 
USA went ahead, 3-1, in the top of the fourth on a squeeze play off the bat of senior first baseman Amanda Herron, which plated senior Gwen Jones, who pinch ran for Rathburn, who led off with a chopper up the middle.
 
Troy answered with four runs in the bottom half, going ahead, 5-3. Trojan outfielder Amanda Winters and Affeldt each singled to put two on for centerfielder Carli Kayler, who homered to left field to put Troy ahead one run. Catcher Hannah Day then singled through the left side to plate Benton, who followed with the home run with a double to left field.
 
USA loaded the bases a half-inning later – in the top of the fifth – but sophomore center fielder Amanda Minahan and Johnson struck out and flied out, respectively.
 
Day delivered a two-out single to score Benton in the bottom of the sixth, as the Trojans went ahead three runs.
 
Troy outhit the Jaguars, 8-7, in the contest, with Day leading the Trojans at the plate on 3-for-4 hitting with two RBI. Kayler was 1-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. Benton was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.
 
Johnson led the Jaguars on 2-for-3 hitting with a run scored. Rathburn was 1-for-2 with a run and two walks, while Herron and Lowe each supplied an RBI.
 
Beard suffered the loss for USA, falling to 9-4 on the year after giving up five runs (all earned) on seven hits with a walk in 3 2/3 innings pitched. Freshman right-hander Devin Brown threw 2 1/3 innings of relief, giving up one run on a single hit with a walk and five strikeouts.
 
Affeldt improved to 17-9 after limiting the Jags to three runs (two earned) on seven hits with four walks and six strikeouts.
 
GAME TWO – No. 22 South Alabama 2, Troy 0
USA stranded three base runners in the first two innings before going down in order for the next three straight frames.
 
Only designated player Heather Johnson reached base for the Trojans prior to the sixth inning when she reached on a one-out Jaguar fielding error. A McGill strikeout and forced groundout ended that chance.
 
Troy's Johnson led off the bottom of the sixth with a single through the left side, and Kayler reached on a bunt single to follow, but the former was thrown out at third in an attempt to stretch the play, after Kayler's bunt trickled past the pitcher's circle, but was picked up by Jaguar third baseman Emily Messer. Junior catcher Stephanie Pilkington moved to cover third on the tag out.
 
Benton followed the play with a single up the middle, but was thrown out at the plate by Minahan after Becca Hartley's base hit to center field. McGill forced a groundout for out number three to keep the Trojans off the board.
 
Rathburn led off the top of the seventh with a double off the middle of the left field wall to set Griffith up for the go-ahead, two-run homer, her 12^th this year, a new South Alabama season record. McGill retired the Trojans in order to cap the Jaguar victory.
 
Troy outhit USA, 4-3, in the contest. Griffith led the Jaguars at the plate on 1-for-3 hitting with two RBI and a run scored. Rathburn and Minahan were each 1-for-3. Rathburn extended her team-leading hitting streak to 12 games. She and Pilkington have each reached safely in their last 12.
 
Ashley Rainey suffered the loss for Troy after giving up two runs (both earned) on three Jaguar hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
 
On her new single-season home run record, Griffith said, "It's a great feeling. It was something we worked for our entire time here, and for it to happen my senior year is great. But, I can't take credit for that one; the real credit goes to [McGill] for keeping us in the game. Without her, that home run means nothing."

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).