SAN MARCOS, Texas – Abby Krzywiecki and Kamdyn Kvistad homered to ignite a five-run third as the University of South Alabama softball team held on and completed the Sun Belt Conference road sweep of No. 18 Texas State with a 7-4 victory Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Softball Stadium.

The trio of Kvistad (3), Krzywiecki (2) and Cronan (2) combined to drive in all seven of the runs for the Jaguars.

Kaitlyn Hughes tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the season, while Olivia Lackie struck out five in her three innings of work to pick up her third save of the spring.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (21-12, 9-4 SBC) will now return home to host UTA next weekend. First pitch of game one of a doubleheader with the Mavericks is set for 1 p.m. at Jaguar Field.

SOUTH ALABAMA at NO. 18 TEXAS STATE
Date: 4/11
Place: Bobcat Softball Stadium (San Marcos, Texas)

Final Score: South Alabama 7, Texas State 4
Records: South Alabama (21-12, 9-4 SBC) Texas State (25-6, 8-3 SBC)
Pitchers of Record: WP – Kaitlyn Hughes (2-1)  LP – Tori McCann (4-1)  SV – Olivia Lackie (3)
Home Runs: USA: Abby Krzywiecki (4), Kamdyn Kvistad (7); TXST: ArieAnn Bell (7), Marisa Cruz (1)

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama went out in front in the opening frame after manufacturing a pair of runs. Caroline Nichols and Mackenzie Brasher both reached on infield singles to start the game and then moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Meredith Keel. A batter later, Cronan lined a two-out single to center to put South up, 2-0.
- Tara Oltmann lined a double that dropped just inside the leftfield line to start the second. She was then moved to third on a ground out. Two batters later with the count full, Bell tied the game up (2-2) with her seventh homer of the season.
- Brasher led off the third with her fifth-straight hit in the series as she singled to left and then moved into scoring position on another sac bunt from Keel. Krzywiecki then drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left to put South Alabama back out in front, 4-2.  With two on after a fielder's choice and a walk, Kvistad drilled a three-run home run to left to put South up five (7-2).
- Marisa Cruz led off the bottom of the third with her first home run of the season to make it 7-3. With two outs and a runner at second, Oltmann doubled to center to score Kylie George and trim the Jaguar lead to 7-4. Haliegh MacKay followed with a single of her own to put runners at first and second.
- Hannah Earls and George both waked to start the bottom of the fifth. The two Bobcat runners were then moved up on Sara Vanderford's sacrifice bunt, and with the tying run at the plate with the heart of the order up, Lackie struck out Oltmann and McKay to end the inning.
- Earls reached on an infield single to begin the bottom half of the seventh and Oltmann lined a single back up the middle to bring the tying run to the plate. Lackie clinched the three-run victory though when MacKay flied out to Victoria Ortiz in right to end the game.

NOTES
- Ortiz extended her current hit streak to five games with her third-inning single.
- Keel also extended her reached base safely streak to five games when she was hit by a pitch in the top of the fourth, but saw her four-game hit streak come to an end. She did however have two sacrifice bunts.
- Nichols led off all three games of the series with a base hit. Both Saturday and Sunday, Nichols hits came on the first pitch of the contest.
- Brasher's multi-hit game marked her second of the series, 10th of the spring and 15th of her career.
- The home run for Krzywiecki was her fourth of the spring and the 13th of her Jaguar career. It was also the 20th of the season by a Jaguar.
- Kvistad's home run was the 25th of her career and moved her into a three-way tie with former Jags Amanda Minahan (2014-17) and Brittany Fowler (2010-13) for third all-time at South.
- The home run was also the first extra-base hit for the senior – who leads the club in that category overall – in conference play.
- Cruz's home run to lead off the Texas State third was the 10th by an opponent to begin an inning.
- South Alabama turned double plays in both the third and fourth innings.
- The SBC series sweep is the third of the season for the Jaguars. The last time South recorded three or more league series sweeps came back during the 2017 season. The 2017 season was also the last time the Jags swept two conference road series.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On the importance of completing the sweep:
"This series was huge for us and we helped ourselves out from both a conference and national standpoint. We had different areas that we have been working on and talking about come together. I'm proud of our effort all weekend. We need to keep the momentum moving forward."

Catcher Kamdyn Kvistad
- On the big third inning:
"Everyone in our lineup was trying to get on Texas State's pitching early and score as many runs as we could for our pitching staff. With Texas State having already lost two games in the series, I knew they were going to try to prevent us from getting the sweep. The emphasis for us today was to get the bats going early and keep them going throughout the whole game. For me, I was just looking for a good pitch to hit, make good solid contact with the ball, and try to get my confidence back up.  I finally got that to happen so that felt good. The inning as a whole for us was just one with solid at-bats throughout for everyone."
- On getting the sweep:
"Anytime you can get the sweep in a conference series is a really good feeling for everyone. It's not an easy thing to do, because you're seeing the same team for three days in a row. Making adjustments is a big part of this game, but it was good for us to be able to shut the door. Our pitchers did good, our infielders did good, our hitters did good; we did what we needed to do to win. That's a good step for us in the right direction going forward into our next conference series."

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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