LEESBURG, Fla. – The University of South Alabama softball team dropped a pair of games Friday on the opening day of THE Spring Games held at Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex. Missouri won 3-2 on a two-out walk-off single in the opener and Ohio State held off a late charge from the Jags to take game two of the day, 4-2.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (1-6) will take on Butler on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. (CT) on day two of THE Spring Games. 

THE Spring Games
Date: 2/18
Place: Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex (Leesburg, Fla.)

SOUTH ALABAMA vs. No. 14 MISSOURI
Final Score: Missouri 3, South Alabama 2
Records: Missouri (5-2), South Alabama (1-5)
Pitchers of Record: WP – Megan Shumacher (2-0)    LP – Olivia Lackie (0-2)
Home Runs: USA – Kennedy Cronan (1); MIZZ – Kimberly Wert (2)

SCORING
- MIZZ (1st Inn.) | Jenna Laird singled to left, RBI; Brooke Wilmes scored from third (0-1, 0 out)
- MIZZ (3rd Inn.) | Wert homered to left, RBI (0-2, 1 out)
- USA (4th Inn.) | Cronan homered to left, 2 RBI; Abby Allen scored from first (2-2, 0 out)
- MIZZ (7th Inn.) | Kendyll Bailey singled to left, RBI; Laird scored from second (2-3, 2 out)

GAME FACTS
- Wilmes led off bottom of first with a triple off the fence in right.
- The home run given up by Jordan Weber to Cronan marked the first allowed by the Tiger pitcher this spring.
- South had a chance to break the 2-2 tie in the fifht as it loaded the bases with two out, but Schumacher was able to get a strike out to end the frame.
- Lackie held Missouri hitless from the fourth inning to Emma Raabe's sixth-inning single.
- Four of Lackie's eight strikeouts in the contest came after the sophomore was able to get ahead 0-2 in the count to Tiger batters.
- In a game where runs were a premium, both teams left plenty of runners on base combining to strand 17: Missouri (10) and South Alabama (7).
- The two teams were a combined 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-14 in two-out situations.

NOTES
- Cronan's fourth-inning home run was the 16th of her Jaguar career as she now sits one long ball shy of moving into the top 10 in the category at South.
- Bailey Welch's fifth-inning double was the fourth extra-base hit of her career and her first double since May 12, 2021 against App State last spring at the SBC tournament.
- Caroline Nichols had her five-game hit streak and her 10-game reached base safely streaks snapped in the loss.
- The meeting was the third in the all-time series versus the Tigers and the 64th versus a Southeastern Conference opponent. All three meetings versus Missouri have come each of the last three seasons.

SOUTH ALABAMA vs. OHIO STATE
Final Score: Ohio State 4, South Alabama 2
Records: Ohio State (5-0), South Alabama (1-6)
Pitchers of Record: WP – Lexi Handley  LP – Jenna Hardy (0-2)

SCORING
- OSU (5th Inn.) | Melina Wilkison doubled to left center, 2 RBI; Taylor Pack scored from second, unearned; Kami Kortokrax scored from third (0-2, 1 out)
- OSU (5th Inn.) | Meggie Otte doubled to right field, RBI; Wilkison scored from second, unearned (0-3, 2 out)
- OSU (6th Inn.) | Mariah Rodriguez flied out to right, RBI; Teagan Cortelletti scored from third, unearned (0-4, 2 out)
- USA (7th Inn.) | Pinch hitter Stephanie Gonzalez grounded out to second, RBI; Allen scored from third (1-4, 2 out)
- USA (7th Inn.) | Victoria Ortiz scored from third on a wild pitch (2-4, 2 out)

GAME FACTS
- Two of the three runs scored by the Buckeyes in the top of the fifth inning were unearned. Three of the four in the game were also unearned.
- The Buckeyes used three hits, including a pair of doubles, to plate three runs in their half of the fifth.
- OSU's Handley retired the side in order four times – the second, third and fifth – and struck out the side in the second and the sixth on her way to her 13 strikeouts on the afternoon.
- Handley's first walk came with two outs in the seventh.
- All three of South Alabama's errors came on sacrifice bunt attempts.
- Three of Ohio State's six hits went for extra bases, while two of South's four did.

NOTES
- The meeting versus Ohio State Friday marked the just the second in the all-time series versus the two clubs. It was also the second this spring and 17th overall versus a Big 10 opponent for the Jags.
- Kamdyn Kvistad's stand up double in the bottom of the first marked the 24th of her career and the 53rd hit that has gone for extra bases.
- Handley's 13 strikeouts were the most by an opposing pitcher since South Florida's Georgina Cook (13) last spring at the Gainesville Regional.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On bouncing back after the slow start to the season: 
"We are struggling and need to realize we have the power to change it. It's early in the year and we are a better team than what we are showing right now. We have to compete through this right now and become a better team because of it."

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—