Box Score - Game 1 - South Alabama 6, Houston Baptist 1.pdf
Box Score - Game 2 - South Alabama 1, Jacksonville State 0.pdf
Photo Gallery (vs. Jacksonville State)
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama softball team remained perfect on the young season and improved to 4-0 with a double header sweep Saturday at the 2017 Sand Dollar Classic held at Jaguar Field. USA opened the day with a 6-1 win over Houston Baptist and then earned a 1-0 victory in a pitcher's duel in the night cap.
South Alabama (4-0) will out the weekend against Alabama State on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Live stats for every game of the Sand Dollar Classic can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com, while only games with the Jaguars competing will be live streamed on JagNation TV. Fans can purchase tickets Friday-Sunday and that ticket will cover all games played on that particular day. Tournament seating is $15 for reserved seating and $10 for general admission.
GAME ONE: SOUTH ALABAMA 6, HOUSTON BAPTIST 1
Kaleigh Todd, Megan Harris and Kristian Foster each recorded two hits apiece to lead the way for the Jags, while Harris and Minahan also paced the club with two RBI each.
Todd also recorded three stolen bases which was a new career best for the junior. The three stolen bases by Todd also mark the first time a Jag has done so in a game since Britany Campbell had three in a game at Western Kentucky on March 19, 2011.
Destin Vicknair went the distance to record her first complete game of the season and improve to 2-0 in the circle on the year. Vicknair allowed four hits and one unearned run while also striking out two.
The win over the Huskies was also head coach Becky Clark's 350th at South Alabama.
Nicole Shedd registered two of HBU's four hits on the afternoon as she was 2-for-3 at plate with a run scored. Shae Bibby took the loss in her first start of the season for the Huskies. Bibby surrendered five runs all earned on six hits in three innings of work.
Houston Baptist threatened to get on the board first in the bottom of the second as the Huskies placed runners at the corners after a lead-off double by Shedd and a single from Megan Hiers, but Vicknair was able to work out of the jam and induce a ground out to Todd for the final out of the inning.
In the next half inning, South capitalized with some two-out production. Harris singled back up the middle to get things started for the Jaguars. Minahan then came up to the plate and lifted her second two-run home run in as many games to put USA out in front. The shot to left was also the 19th of her career moving her into fifth place on the program's career list.
Abby Krzywiecki then followed Minahan and went back-to-back as she blasted a solo shot of her own deep over the left field wall – the first of her career – making it 3-0 Jaguars.
Minahan and Krzywiecki's back-to-back homers marked the first time for South in a game since April 3, 2015 when Kaitlyn Griffith and Blair Johnson did so against Texas-Arlington.
South Alabama added three more runs and extended its lead to 6-0. Foster led off the frame with her second hit of the day, this one a single to left. Haleigh Lane then followed with a single to the gap in right to place runners at the corners. After a pitching change, Foster scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Savanna Mayo. Two batters later Todd reached on an infield single and Harris then plated the Jag second baseman and Lane with a two-run base hit back up the middle to give USA the six-run advantage.
Houston Baptist would break up the shutout in the bottom of the sixth with an unearned run. Shedd singled to begin the inning and then was safe at second and moved to third on Foster's errant throw on a fielder's choice. Heirs then scored Shedd on an RBI ground out, cutting the South Alabama lead to 6-1. HBU threatened to add another run later in the frame, but Minahan's strong throw from center held Kassie James at third where she would remain.
Vicknair closed out the game with a scoreless seventh to pick up her second win of the season.
GAME TWO: SOUTH ALABAMA 1, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
As anticipated, the final game of the day would prove to be a quality pitching matchup between two outstanding programs as both teams entered the contest undefeated.
The Gamecocks' (3-1) offense had proven to be explosive through their first three games of the season as JSU had recorded 26 runs during that span. However, Jaguar pitcher Devin Brown (2-0) continued her outstanding start to the 2017 season as she improved to 2-0 on the season with a four-hit shutout. Brown also notched a season-high 12 strikeouts in seven innings of work and walked just one batter.
Brown has now struck out 25 with just the one walk in 15.2 innings of work, while allowing just six hits and no runs during that time.
MC Nichols, Minahan and Krzywiecki would provide the only offense for South on the evening as Jacksonville State starter Whitney Gillespie (1-1) surrendered her first run of the season, and struck out three.
JSU designated player Alexus Jimmerson was 2-for-3 for the Gamecocks at the plate, while Jamie McGuire and Cadi Oliver also carded a hit apiece.
The Gamecocks threatened to break a scoreless tie early on, loading the bases with one out in the top of the second, but Brown battled back and recorded her fourth and fifth strike outs of the night – fanning Anna Snider and Emily Woodruff – to work out of the jam.
In the bottom of the bottom of the fourth, South was finally able to break through with a run. Nichols singled back up the middle of Gillespie's glove and with one away and then after Kristian Foster walked on four-straight pitches, Krzywiecki drove a 1-2 pitch back up the middle to center field, scoring Nichols from second.
"[Gillespie] had got me out on my first at-bat with an outside pitch and I was looking for it on that at-bat," Krzywiecki said of the eventually game-winning hit. "She had been throwing me outside and that's the pitch I got. I was calm during the at-bat and just wanted to get the job done for my team and produce a run for us to put us up on the scoreboard. I was looking for that pitch and I got it."
That would be all the offense Brown would need as she would retire the next 14 batters after the bases-loaded one-out jam in the second, and 17 of the final 19 to end the game.
JSU put two aboard in the top of the seventh after singles by McGuire and Jimmerson, but Brown once again buckled down and got Oliver and pinch-hitter Emily Church to strike out swinging to end the game for her second complete game shutout of the season.
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).
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