MOBILE, Ala. – Junior pitcher Alexis Reid scattered six hits and tossed a complete-game shutout Sunday afternoon as the University of South Alabama softball team picked up a 5-0 win over Georgia State to clinch the Sun Belt series at Jaguar Field.

The shutout for A. Reid (6-6) was her third complete-game shutout of the season.  Kaleigh Todd was 3-for-4 with a run scored, while MC Nichols also finished with a run scored and a pair of hits.  Senior shortstop Kristian Foster drove in three, while freshman infielder Kamdyn Kvistad finished off her impressive weekend with a home run and a pair of RBI.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (17-14, 5-3 SBC) will head out on the road for the first of four games when the Jaguars travel to Lake Charles, La., to take on McNeese State.  First pitch versus the Cowgirls is set for 6 p.m. at Cowgirl Diamond on Wednesday evening.

Date: 3/25
Place: Jaguar Field (Mobile, Ala.)
Final Score: South Alabama 5, Georgia State 0
Records: South Alabama (17-14, 5-3 SBC), Georgia State (15-15, 2-6 SBC)

Box Score (PDF)

SCORING PLAYS
-2 Inn. — USA, 1-0 —Kvistad solo home run (RBI) to left center
-3 Inn. — USA, 4-0 —Foster double down the leftfield line, scoring Haleigh Lowe from third, Todd from second, Nichols from first
-3 Inn. — USA, 5-0 —Kvistad sacrifice fly to right, scoring Foster from third

KEY MOMENT OF THE GAME
-Kvistad blasted her third home run of the season high off the scoreboard in left center on the first pitch she saw from Amanda Chance (3-6) to start the second inning, giving the Jags a one-run lead.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS
-Todd finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored, while Nichols had two hits in her three at bats.
-Foster recorded her team-leading seventh double of the season and drove in three in the win.
-Kvistad also added a RBI sacrifice fly to go along with the second-inning home run.
-A. Reid earned her second complete-game win of the weekend and didn't allow an earned run in her 14 innings of work against the Panthers.
-Kristin Hawkins was the lone Panther to record multiple hits in the loss, finishing 2-for-3 at the plate.
-Kinsley Jennings pitched 2.0 innings of scoreless relief for Georgia State, allowing just three hits and recording a pair of strikeouts.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-Savanna Mayo came up with a pair of line out-double plays as she ended possible GSU scoring threats with her glove in the first and second innings.
-The Jaguars registered three double plays in the game – two line outs and a ground out.
-Of Georgia State's six hits, only one was for extra bases.  The Panthers entered the weekend with 53 extra-base hits, but GSU was held to just five in the series and just one double by A. Reid over the last two games.
-A. Reid recorded first-pitch strikes on 19 of the 27 batters that she faced and of those first-pitch strikes, she retired 14 of them.
-Kvistad also had 11 putouts to go along with her big day at the plate.  

GAME FACTS
-Kvistad staked the Jags to an early 1-0 lead as the freshman blasted her third home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the second.  Kvistad's bomb came on the very first pitch of the inning from Chance.
-For the second game in as many days, the Jag half of the third proved to be a pivotal inning in helping South break open the game.  After scoring seven runs on seven hits in the frame on Saturday, The Jaguars posted four runs on four hits in the inning in the series finale.
-Lowe, Todd and Nichols each singled to start the inning third and then came around to score when Foster lined a double down the left field line that stayed just inside the bag at third.  Foster advanced to third on the throw home and then came into score on Kvistad's RBI-sacrifice fly to right giving South Alabama the 5-0 lead.
-The Panthers threatened to get something going in the fifth as Arden Jobe walked to lead things off and Hawkins then reached on a bunt single, but the defense would help A. Reid out as South turned a 4-6-3 double play.  A. Reid then got Skylar Mosel to fly out to Lowe in left to end the inning.
-GSU placed two on with two outs in the sixth as Reagan Morgan reached on a hit-by-pitch with one out and Megan Litumbe singled to left, but A. Reid got a ground out back to the circle to end the inning.
-Hawkins doubled with one out in the seventh, but A. Reid was able to get Taylor Chadwick to ground out to third and Mosel to pop out to second to end the game.

NOTES
-With her start at second, Todd made her 141st consecutive start, moving her into a tie for sixth place with former Jag Brittany Fowler.
-All seven of South Alabama's home runs this season have been solo shots, and of those six have led off an inning.  All three of Kvistad's have led off an inning for the Jaguars.
-With her three-hit effort, Todd extended her streak of multi-hit games to four, as she had at least two in all three games versus the Panthers and four in the series finale at Georgia Southern.  She now has 51 multi-hit games for her career, which moves her into a tie for third-place at South Alabama in the category with former Jag Tara Donaldson (2007-09).
-Todd is now hitting a team-best .538 against Sun Belt competition.
-Before her third-inning sacrifice fly in the third, Kvistad had reached base safely in each of her last eight plate appearances and had a hit in each of her previous seven at-bats.
-For the series versus the Panthers, Kvistad was 7-for-8 (.875) with three runs scored, two doubles, a home run, 4 RBI and a 1.500 slugging percentage.
-South Alabama has now won seven of the 10 meetings in Mobile in the series against Georgia State.
-The Jaguars are also now 7-0 in games in which they score at least four runs in an inning.
-With the 11 hits in the series finale, South has now had double-digit hit efforts in three of its last four games.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On getting the series win: "It's huge for us to get the series win.  We were able to respond after dropping the first game [of the series] and that was big for us.  You are starting to see things kind of coming together for us.  I was really happy to see Lex have two strong outings for us.  The defense today played great behind her, and she did her job hitting spots and throwing strikes.  We also had the timely hitting, so this was a good team win.  Coming into the day, we just wanted to make sure we stayed up on [Georgia State] and didn't want to give them any momentum."
- On the bats coming around: "You're starting to see some people have some great at-bats, and we really had some today.  The at-bat that MC [Nichols] had in the third where she was down 0-2 in the count and couldn't get the bunt down, but she battled back and worked her way into a hit that loaded the bases for us and turned things over to the middle of the order.  I thought that was huge for us.  We had several at-bats like that where we just fought and scraped and passed the baton on to the next person, who came through."

Kristian Foster
- On bouncing back with two wins to clinch the series: "Getting the win today and in game two yesterday was very big for us.  We didn't feel like we played that well in the first game of the series, but we knew we had to respond and compete every pitch and that's the Jaguar softball we want to play.  Being able to respond this weekend I think will help us lock into the mindset we need to have.  It's huge for us to take this conference series.  We just have to continue to lock into the way we were these past two games."
- On the bases-clearing double in the third: "The pitch was a little outside and I pulled it, but it worked in our favor.  It was one of those big, timely hits that we talk about getting all the time."
- On the offense having another double-digit hit game: "I feel we are getting into our comfort zone at the plate.  We are attacking the pitches that we want to hit and not really going after too many out of the zone or that we are unable to drive. One of the biggest things for us is locking into the pitches we really can drive which may not necessarily be our pitch, but just taking what the pitcher gives us and drive those balls when we can."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_Jags. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub

—USA—