Box Score SAN MARCOS, Texas – The University of South Alabama softball team captured its second Sun Belt Conference road series victory Saturday afternoon as the Jaguars defeated No. 18 Texas State, 1-0 at Bobcat Softball Stadium.

Abby Krzywiecki drew a two-out bases-loaded walk to break a scoreless tie in the top of the seventh, and Olivia Lackie closed out the game with her seventh strikeout to earn her 12th win of the spring. Mackenzie Brasher was 3-for-3 at the plate and scored the winning run.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (20-12, 8-4 SBC) will conclude the series with the Bobcats on Sunday with first pitch set for 12 p.m. at Bobcat Softball Stadium.

SOUTH ALABAMA at NO. 18 TEXAS STATE
Date: 4/10
Place: Bobcat Softball Stadium (San Marcos, Texas)

Final Score: South Alabama 1, Texas State 0
Records: South Alabama (20-12, 8-4 SBC), Texas State (25-5, 8-2 SBC)
Pitchers of Record: WP – Olivia Lackie (12-6)  LP – Meghan King (7-2)

GAME FACTS
- Like game one of the series, Caroline Nichols led the game off with a base hit as she lined the first pitch she saw into right center. Nichols moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Meredith Keel. The Jags looked as if they had plated a run as Krzywiecki's liner down the right field line appeared to have landed just inside fair territory, but the ball was ruled foul. King posted her second strikeout of the inning one pitch later to leave the Jag runner stranded.
- South Alabama put a pair of base runners on with one out in its half of the third as Nichols reached on a fielder's choice and Keel lined a shot to left, but King retired the next two Jag batters to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
- Sara Vanderford reached on catcher's interference to start the bottom of the fourth, and pinch runner Molly Damiani moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt, but Lackie came back with back-to-back strikeouts looking to end the inning and leave the runner stranded.
- Kennedy Cronan walked with one out in the sixth. Jaguar pinch runner Jordyn Calderon moved into scoring position when she tagged up on a foul out, and then advanced to third on a wild pitch, but King recorded her eighth strikeout of the game to end the inning.
- Hannah Earls recorded Texas State's first hit of the afternoon with a single to left to start the bottom half of the sixth, but was erased on a fielder's choice and with two outs, Tara Oltmann was walked to put a pair on for the Bobcats, but Lackie was able to get Hailey McKay swinging to end the frame.
- Brasher led off the seventh with her third hit in as many at-bats with one away in the inning. South Alabama later loaded the bases with two outs after a fielder's choice and a hit batter, and Krzywiecki broke the scoreless tie as she drew a walk to plate Brasher (1-0) after fouling off five two-strike pitches and working the count full.
- Hailey McKay's bouncer to start the bottom of the seventh deflected off Keel's glove at third for a base hit and she was moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Caitlyn Rogers. With two outs, ArieAnn Bell was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second, but Lackie answered back and finished off the game with her seventh strikeout, as Kylie George went down swinging to end the game.

NOTES
- The start at short marked the 100th career start at the position for Cronan.
- The game was also the 350th against a Sun Belt foe both regular season and post season combined.
- With the win over Texas State, South Alabama now holds four wins over ranked opponents this spring.
- The series win against the Bobcats also marked the first series win over a ranked opponent since the Jaguars took two-of-three versus No. 22 Louisiana back on March 16-17, 2013.
- The three-hit performance marked the 14th multi-hit game of Brasher's career and her ninth of the season. The three hits also tied a career high for the sophomore.
- The multi-hit game was Nichols second of the series and her sixth of the spring.
- Texas State had four runners reach base via walks over the first three innings, but all four were erased on the base paths as one was caught stealing and three were called for leaving the bag early. The Bobcats were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
- Lackie flirted with her second no-hitter of the season as she held the Bobcats hitless through the first five innings.
- The shutout was the sixth of the season for Lackie and her ninth complete game effort. In her seven innings in the circle, Lackie held the Bobcats – who entered the weekend with the second-ranked offense in the Sun Belt – to just two hits.
- Krzywiecki saw 11 pitches during her game-winning at-bat.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On the importance of taking the series:
"Obviously every game is huge and this series is no exception. You have two very good teams going head-to-head, and I thought yesterday and today's games had a postseason feel to them. These games are great for both teams and great for our conference."
- On Olivia Lackie's performance in the circle and Abby Krzywiecki's game-winning at-bat:
"We got great pitching again today. Liv dug in and made tough pitches in some really big situations. Two hits today and three yesterday is pretty respectable against one of the top offenses in the conference. Abby's 11-pitch at-bat was just a situation where she refused to get beat. She fouled off several tough pitches and definitely earned that at-bat."
- On finishing off the series tomorrow:
"Like I said before, every game is important. We have to continue with the same compete mentality and applying pressure every pitch. Texas State is a very good team, so we will have to work for everything we get."

Infielder Abby Krzywiecki
- On her game-winning at-bat:
"Texas State had been working up in the zone on me all weekend. For a while now, I've been trying to do too much in the box, but today and especially during that at-bat I was the calmest that I've been in a long time. I knew that that was the inning that we've that we needed to score, because Texas State was gaining momentum. I was just trying to see the ball down and either foul off pitches that I knew that I wasn't going to be able to drive, or draw a walk, and that's what I did."
- On importance of picking up the series win:
"We've been working so hard and our team chemistry is just getting us through right now. This was a huge win for us today. Coming into the weekend, we knew this was a big series for us. These are big team wins for us."

Pitcher Olivia Lackie
- On her performance in the circle:
"After the Troy game, I was a little down because I felt like I hadn't performed to the level that I knew I was capable of performing. Coming out here today, I wanted to come out here and compete, and I felt that I did that; I knew I had my team behind me, even if I did fail. I knew they'd back me up."
- On the importance of taking the series versus Texas State and carrying that momentum into tomorrow's finale:
"This series win was huge for us, mainly due to the fact that today's win was a great team win. Both our offense and defense looked really good today. Yesterday our team looked great as well with Allie Hughen on the mound. The last two games have been great team wins, and we just need to carry that into tomorrow as we try to complete the sweep."

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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