MOBILE, Ala. – After falling 1-0 to Murray State in its first game of the day, the University of South Alabama softball team rallied back to defeat Butler, 7-5 and earn a split Saturday on day two of the Jaguar Classic presented by Marriott Mobile.

Victoria Ortiz had the big night in the win over the Bulldogs with a pair of doubles and three RBI. Shelby Sloan also had a pair of hits, drove in a pair and scored two runs.

In her two games on the day, Olivia Lackie (2-2) recorded 13 strikeouts and issued just one walk in her seven innings of relief.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (4-3) will close out tournament action on Sunday when it takes on Lipscomb at 12:30 p.m. at Jaguar Field.

Date: 2/20
Place: Jaguar Field (Mobile, Ala.)

SOUTH ALABAMA vs. MURRAY STATE
Final Score: Murray State 1, South Alabama 0
Records: Murray State (2-6), South Alabama (3-3)
Pitchers of Record: W –Hannah James (2-2)  L – Allie Hughen (1-1)
Home Runs: MSU: Sierra Gilmore (2)

GAME FACTS
- South had its chances over the first three innings leaving four runners on and going 0-for-6 at the plate over the first three innings of play with runners in scoring position.
- The early missed scoring opportunities caught up to the Jaguars in the fourth. Sierra Gilmore fouled off five pitches before driving the ball over the wall in left to give Murray State the 1-0 advantage. Hughen then issued two-straight walks, the first on four consecutive pitches out of the zone to Lexi Jones and the second to Brea Croslin after a 16-pitch at-bat in which she fouled off 11 pitches.
- With the bases full after another walk, Jag reliever Olivia Lackie recorded three strikeouts to end the inning and limit the damage to just the one run.
- Lackie kept the Jaguars in it for the remainder of the game as she struck out eight of the 14 batters she faced and only surrendered one hit.
- After working out of the jam in the bottom of the third, James was just as solid retiring all but two of the final 14 batters that she faced, working 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth.
- Brasher snapped a streak of nine straight retired Jaguar batters as the sophomore outfielder beat out an infield hit for her second infield single of the contest to start the bottom of the sixth. After a sacrifice bunt, James recorded a strikeout and then Victoria Ortiz's hard-hit liner was caught in center to end the inning.

NOTES
- The 3-9 spots in the Jaguar lineup had just one of South's five hits, as Keel and Brasher at the top of the lineup had two apiece.
- With her leadoff single in the bottom of the first, Keel – extended her hit streak to six as she has now recorded a hit in each of South's first six games of the spring.
- With her two hits against the Racers, Keel has also recorded multiple hits in five of her six outings
- The solo home run allowed by Hughen to lead off the fourth marked the first earned run that the senior right-hander has allowed this spring.

SOUTH ALABAMA vs. BUTLER
Final Score: South Alabama 7, Butler 5
Records: South Alabama (4-3), Butler (4-5)
Pitchers of Record: W – Olivia Lackie (2-2)  L – Karli Ricketts (2-2)
Home Runs: BU: Monique Hoosen (1)

GAME FACTS
- The Bulldogs manufactured a run in the top of the second to take the early lead. Madi Christiansen doubled off the wall in left center. She was then sacrificed up a base on a bunt and came into score on Christina Candotti's sac fly to left (1-0).
- Wolfenden dropped in a two-out single to left in the bottom half of the inning and Abby Allen was then hit by a pitch and Bailey Welch walked on four straight to load the bases, but Butler's Graves was able to induce a ground out to end the inning.
- After Butler stranded a pair of base runners in the top half of the next inning, the Jaguars moved a pair of runners in scoring position in the bottom half of the third. Brasher led off the inning with her second hit in as many at-bats as she beat out an infield single. While attempting to sacrifice Brasher over, Shelby Sloan laid down a bunt and beat the throw to first. On the play, Brasher was able to move all the way around to third as the throw got away, putting runners at the corners. Sloan moved up on a wild pitch and the Jag duo then came home and put South up, 2-1 on Ortiz's one-out single back up the middle.
- The Bulldogs got the two runs right back the next half inning. Christina Candotti singled with two outs and Hoosen drove a ball over the wall in center to put the visitors back out in front, 3-2.
- Butler loaded the bases in the top of the fifth after a leadoff single by Lauren Fey and a pair of hit batters, but Lackie was able to get Christiansen to tap back to third and end the inning.
- Wilcox led the bottom half of the fifth off as she doubled on the first pitch of the frame. Jag pinch runner Caroline Nichols moved to third with some heads-up base running as the bag was left uncovered on the pop out. The junior was able to later come home and tie the game back up at 3-3 on Kennedy Cronan's sacrifice fly to right. Belle Wolfenden then doubled and came home one batter later when Allen's pop up on the infield was unable to be caught, giving the Jags the lead (4-3).
- South added some insurances in its half of the sixth. Bailey Welch walked for the third time to start the frame and Keel extended her hit streak with an infield single. The pair were then moved around with a sacrifice bunt by Brasher and Sloan plated both runners when she lined a double to the gap in left center (6-3). Two batters later, South tacked on another run (7-3) when Ortiz plated Sloan with her second double of the game.
- The three insurance runs proved important as the Bulldogs scratched across a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. Fey led off the inning with a triple to center – her third hit of the contest – and two batters later Ricketts trimmed the Jaguar lead to two (7-5) with a shot over the leftfield wall. That would be all the runs Butler would get though as Lackie struck out the final two batters of the game for her fifth and sixth strikeouts.

NOTES
- The meeting versus the Bulldogs marked the fourth in the all-time series with three of the four coming a Jaguar Field. The meeting was the first between the two clubs in Mobile since the 2017 season.
- With the win, South improved to 4-0 in the series.
- Welch's three walks matched Kennedy Cronan and Wolfenden's single-game high this season. The duo did so in game two of the season at Georgia.
- Keel extended her hit streak to seven games with her sixth-inning single.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On game one and game two:
"[Allie] Hughen and [Olivia] Lackie gave us every chance to win the first game, but we never made an adjustment offensively. The second game was better in places, but we have to get consistent offensively and we left a couple of pitches over the plate that they made us pay for. I hope that we learned something today and that these two games will make us a better team moving forward. We need to build off of the Butler win and have a better overall approach tomorrow."

Outfielder Victoria Ortiz
- On being back in the lineup these first two nights:
"It's been a long time and I've been waiting it. I knew what I needed to do, but I shot myself in the foot at first because I wasn't able to process all the emotion that finally came along with being back and that excitement. I just had to realize that I can't create everything on my own and that I can trust my teammates. I don't have to do big things all the time. I just have to chip in and do my part.
- On the big hits in game two:
"I just had to lock in to my plan and what we've been working on. We know the scouting report and what the pitcher is going to be throwing, so I just had to lock in to my plan and once I trusted that, it all worked out for me."


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.

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