MOBILE, Ala. – Sophomore pitcher struck out a career high 18 batters and freshman first baseman Gabby Stagner drew a bases-loaded walk as the University of South Alabama softball team took game one of the Sun Belt Conference series versus Texas State Friday night at Jaguar Field.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (11-13, 4-0 SBC) will continue the series versus the Bobcats with game two on Saturday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. 

Date: 3/18
Place: Jaguar Field (Mobile, Ala.)

Final Score: South Alabama 2, Texas State 1
Records: South Alabama (11-13, 4-0 SBC), Texas State (13-11, 1-3 SBC)
Pitchers of Record: WP – Olivia Lackie (6-3)  LP – Jessica Mullin (8-8)

SCORING
- TXST (6th Inn.) | Pinch hitter Tori McCann grounds out to the pitcher, RBI| Hannah Earls scores from third (0-1, 2 out)
- USA (7th Inn.) | Victoria Ortiz double to left center, RBI | pinch runner Bailey Welch scores from second (1-1, 2 out)
- USA (8th Inn.) | Stagner walked, RBI; Caroline Nichols scored from third (2-1, 0 out)

GAME FACTS
- Lackie set the tone in the first inning as she struck out the side – one of her four times to do so in the game – in the top half of the first and the first four batters of the game.
- The Walker, La., native went on to retire the side in order five innings in the contest. 
- Abby Allen tripled with two outs in the bottom half of the first, but Mullins was able to get a strikeout to leave her at third.
- Texas State only had base runners – a walk in the second and a hit in the third – through the first five innings of the game
- South Alabama had at least one base runner on in three of the first four innings, but was unable to push across a run.
- After a one-out walk in South's half of the third to Meredith Keel and an infield single by Nichols, Mullins struck out the next two Jag batters. 
- The next time up, Kamdyn Kvistad moved around to second with one away after a dropped fly ball in left, but Mullins was able to get a fielder's choice at third and then her eighth strikeout of the game.
- Texas State broke the scoreless tie with a run in the top half of the sixth. Earl tripled after the outfielder slipped in left, and then came into score on a RBI ground out by McCann.
- Belle Wolfenden ignited a seventh-inning rally for the Jags as she double to left center with one away. Two batters later, Ortiz just missed walking it off for South as she doubled high off the wall in left center to plate Welch and tie the game at 1-1.
- After Lackie struck out the side in the top half of the eighth, South Alabama loaded the bases in the bottom half as Nichols dropped in a single in shallow left and Mackenzie Brasher reached on an infield single of her own. The two runners then moved into scoring position and Allen drew a walk to load the bases. Stagner then worked the count full before drawing the game-winning, walk-off walk to score Nichols from third (2-1).
- Despite taking the loss, Mullins was outstanding in her own rite as she struck out 13 in her seven-plus innings of work. 
- She posted two or more strike outs in five innings, striking out the side in the third. Mullins also had 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth innings.
- Along with her career-high 18 strikeouts, Lackie allowed just three hits and issued just one walk.
- She retired the side in order in the first, third, fourth, fifth and eighth innings, while striking out the side four times. The only inning that she didn't record at least one strikeout was the fourth where she retired the Bobcats in order.
- Lackie was able to get ahead of Texas State's batters as she went first-pitch strike to the first 21 she faced and didn't throw a first-pitch ball until the second batter of the seventh inning. 
- Lackie also got ahead 0-2 counts on 12 times in the game, and posted nine of her strike outs in those counts. Only two batters managed to get on base after falling behind 0-2.
- Of her 115 pitches thrown, 73 percent were for strikes.

NOTES
- With the win, South Alabama is now won 10 of its last 12 SBC home openers, and is 12-4 in those contests since beginning league play in 2007.
- The game marked just the third extra-inning affair in the series with Texas State.
- It was also the sixth straight by South, the longest win streak of the season for the Jaguars.
- Allen's triple in the bottom half of the first extend her reached base safely streak to 20 games, which matches Tara Donaldson (2009) for the eighth-longest streak in program history.
- The triple was the fifth of the season for the Jags, which are one shy of matching South's total from all of the 2021 season.
- Allen continues to lead South Alabama in walks as she has drawn 17 this spring.
- Brasher extended her reached base safely streak to seven.
- With her strike out to end the top of the fifth, Lackie recorded her ninth career double-digit strikeout game and her second in as many starts.
- The 10 double-digit career strikeout games tied her with Hannah Campbell for fourth all-time at South
- The 16 strikeouts through seven marked the third most-in a seven-inning performance and the 18 were second-most in a game in program history, just two behind Devin Brown's mark of 20 set in a 10-inning affair at Texas State
- The seventh-inning double by Ortiz was her team-leading seventh of the season and the 29th of her Jaguar career. 
- The extra-base hit was the 11th of the season for Ortiz.
- With her bases-loaded walk, Stagner has now driven in at least one run in her last five outings. 
- It marked her ninth RBI of the spring for the freshmen in those situations. 

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On the game: 
"First of all, hats off to [Texas State pitcher Jessica] Mullins; she pitched a great game. You've got two of the best pitchers in the league going at it and that's what it's supposed to look like. I thought that was a great game on both sides, kudos to Texas State, I thought they played a really good game. Tonight, was probably Liv's [Olivia Lackie] best performance of the year and a good place to do it, on her home field. For us to have enough fight was great. We made some adjustments there at the end and put ourselves in a position to be successful. I think that's the biggest thing, watching them from at-bat to at-bat, working throughout the game, making adjustments and it paying off in the end. It's got to be a learning experience for us, that we're in that place in the beginning, but good for them that they worked to get there when we needed it."
- On Olivia Lackie's performance:
"Liv stepped on the mound to win and when she's in that mode, if you get her a run two, then she'll make it stand up. That was my thought process the entire game, once you see how dominant she was, I'm like 'Let me get her one or two runs and she'll hang on to it.' So, unfortunate on the run that [Texas State] scored, that happens and its part of the game, but it gave us a chance for a big comeback."

Freshman INF Gabby Stagner
- On getting late-inning offense after struggling early: 
"We all struggled a little bit for the first six innings and then we started to get on fire. When I got up to bat with bases after my teammates had done their part to put us in that situation, I was like 'I have to do this for the team and Liv because she's been on fire', so I was relaxed."
- On her mindset in bases-loaded situations:
"My mindset normally is just staying relaxed and putting something in play; not trying to do anything too big, but just stay relaxed and do what I normally do."

Sophomore P Olivia Lackie
- On her performance during the game: 
"I think I performed pretty well tonight compared to the past. I've been working to get back to my fully-recovered self and I feel like tonight was a great showing of that. It was easy for me to get out there and do that when I knew I had my defense behind me to back me up."
- On her mindset during the game:
"My mindset when I stepped out there each inning was just to battle, pitch my best stuff to Kam [Kamdyn Kvistad], know that my defense behind me was going to back me up and then my offense was going to be able to put some runs on the board, which they did."

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—