MOBILE, Ala. | After splitting its two games on Friday, South Alabama softball bounced back with a pair huge victories, defeating Missouri State, 10-0 in five-innings behind Olivia Lackie's no-hitter, and then closing out the day with a 4-1 victory over previously undefeated Rutgers at Jaguar Field on day two of the Mardi Gras Classic presented by Beebe's Termite & Pest Control.

The pitching duo of Lackie and Jenna Hardy tossed a combined 12 innings of near scoreless ball as only an unearned run was allowed to lead the way in the circle for South Alabama (4-4).

Odalys Cordova led the way at the plate as she was a combined 3-for-5 with a double, three runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base.

Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- On the club bouncing back: "Today was a big step forward. We had great pitching, timely hitting and aggressive base running in both games. I thought both games were team wins and gave us something to build off of heading into tomorrow."

Redshirt junior second baseman Odalys Cordova
- On bouncing back with the two wins on Saturday: "We just locked in compared to the way we were in our first game yesterday. We told ourselves that we had to have the right approach every, single at-bat and that's what got us the two wins today."

- On the fourth-inning play that got the Jags on the board and sparked the club against Rutgers: "I just saw the open bag and took it, because I need to make the most of the opportunities when I get them in order to help us win."

Game 1 – South Alabama 10, Missouri State 0 (5 inn.)
For the first time in program history, Lackie became the first player in program history to toss no-hitters in back-to-back starts as the Jaguars picked up a 10-0, run-rule victory over Missouri State in Saturday's opener.

Lackie struck out 10 and allowed just one base runner (walk), throwing 51 of her 74 pitches for strikes.

Meredith Keel was 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. Victoria Ortiz had a three-run home run and scored twice as well, while Cordova had a hit and a walk to go along with two runs scored.

The Jaguars struck first with a pair of runs in the second. Sasha Willems walked on four-straight out of the zone to start the inning and South then put runners at the corners two batters later after a Bear fielding error. Willems came home on the next batter when Missouri State's third baseman mishandled a ball, which put South up, 1-0. Brooklynn Bockhaus then lined a single through the left side of the infield – the freshman outfielder's first collegiate hit – to plate the second run of the inning.

South's third time up, Keel and Cordova led off the frame with back-to-back singles. With one out and both runners in scoring position, Gabby Stagner plated a run with an RBI groundout, scoring Keel from third (3-0). One batter later, Ortiz delivered a two-run bomb deep over right field wall to put the Jags up, 5-0.

The Jaguars kept the offense going their next time up with five more runs. Marley Sims started things with a one-out single back up the middle. After Sims moved into scoring position with a stolen base, Mackenzie Brasher beat out an infield single to put runners at the corners. For the second straight game, Sims then stole home on a double steal (6-0). Keel then followed with her second hit of the contest, plating Brasher from second. South then loaded the bases later in the frame and Ortiz brought in her third run of the game with a walk. Shelby Garrett then capped off the scoring with a two-run single to left, giving the Jaguars a 10-0 lead.

Lackie (2-2) closed things out with her fourth 1-2-3 inning to give her her second-straight no-hitter and the fourth of her career.

Scoring Summary
•    2nd Inn | Garrett reached on a fielder's choice; Willems scored (unearned) on a fielding error by 3b (1-0, USA)
•    2nd Inn | Bockhaus singled through the left side of the infield, RBI; Victoria Ortiz scored (unearned) (2-0, USA)
•    3rd Inn | Stagner ground out to shortstop, RBI; Keel scored (3-0, USA)
•    3rd Inn | Ortiz homered to right field, 2 RBI; Cordova scored (5-0, USA)
•    4th Inn | Sims stole home (6-0, USA)
•    4th Inn | Keel singled through the right side of the infield, RBI; Brasher scored (7-0, USA)
•    4th Inn | Ortiz walked, RBI; Keel scored (unearned) (8-0, USA)
•    4th Inn | Garrett singled to left, 2 RBI; Cordova scored (unearned), Stagner scored (unearned) (10-0, USA)

Postgame Notes
•    Keel extended her hit streak to five games with her second-inning single, as she has now had at least one hit in all but one game this spring
•    With her two hits, Keel recorded her second multi-hit game of the weekend, her fourth of the season
•    Keel now has 28th multi-hit games in her Jaguar career – ranking her 20th in the category – and 40th multi-hit games in her collegiate career dating back to her time at Wright State
•    Brasher also extended her current hit streak to nine games dating back to the end of last spring
•    With her stolen base, Brasher now has 36 for her career, moving her into a tie for seventh all-time with Gwen Jones (2014-15)
•    Ortiz's two-run home run was the first of the season by a Jaguar player and the 23rd of the Mobile native's career 
•    The home run was also the 60th extra-base hit of her career, making her just one of seven players in program history to accomplish the feat
•    After recording just one stolen base through the first five games, South now has stolen bases 13 bases over its last two
•    Sims stole home for the second straight game on a double steal attempt by the Jags
•    The no-hitter was the fourth of Lackie's career and the 21st in program history
•    She is the first player in program to through no-hitters in back-to-back outings, as she combined with Madison Lagle for a five-inning, no-hitter against Mississippi Valley State on Friday
•    It's also the first time in program history that South Alabama has recorded no-hitters in consecutive games
•    The 10 strikeout performance was the 16th double-digit performance of her career

Game 2 – South Alabama 4, Rutgers 1
South Alabama carried the momentum into game two of the day and Hardy tossed a complete-game to pick up her second victory of the spring. The senior allowed just one unearned run scattering five hits and striking out six, while issuing just one walk. An important stat was that Hardy did not allow the leadoff runner for Rutgers to get on in any of her seven innings of work.

Cordova led the offense as she was 2-for-3 at the plate – her third multi-hit effort this season – while scoring a run and driving in a run. 

Rutgers broke a scoreless tie with an unearned run (1-0) in the top of the fourth as Katie Wingert singled to center and Kobie Hura came into score when the ball was misplayed.

Cordova dropped in a single to begin the bottom half of the next half inning. The redshirt junior then showed her speed as she advanced to second on a wild pitch and kept going, coming all the way around to score after a throwing error as she slid in just under the tag at home to tie the game up at 1-1. Later in the frame, Ortiz reached on a fielder's choice two batters later and Stagner singled to left center and advanced to second on the throw into the infield, placing a pair of runners in scoring position with one out for South Alabama. The Jags then took advantage of the Scarlet Knight's second defensive miscue of the inning as Garrett reached on an error, scoring both Ortiz and Stagner, giving South a 3-1 advantage.

Kyleigh Sand singled with one away in the top of the fifth and moved to third on a stolen base and an errant throw, but during the ensuing at-bat a ball in the dirt got away but Willems was able to quickly pounce on it and toss it to Hardy covering home who applied the tag on Sand preventing the run from scoring.

Brasher led off the bottom half of the fifth with a five-pitch walk and two batters later, Cordova continued to spark the offense as she lined a double to right center, bringing Brasher all the way around to score and give South a 4-1 lead. 

Staked with the three-run lead, Hardy retired the seven batters she faced, working a perfect sixth and seventh.

Scoring Summary
•    4th Inn | Wingert singled to center; Hura advanced to third and scored on a fielding error by cf (unearned (0-1, USA)
•    4th Inn | Cordova advanced to second on a wild pitch, advanced home on a two-base, throwing error by c (1-1, USA)
•    4th Inn | Garrett reaches on a throwing error by ss, RBI; Ortiz scored, Stagner scored (unearned) (3-1, USA)
•    5th Inn | Cordova doubled to right center, RBI; Brasher scored (4-1, USA)

Postgame Notes
•    Saturday marked the first series meeting between the two programs
•    Brasher now with a 10-game reached base safely streak dating back to last season with her leadoff walk in the fifth
•    Brasher had her nine-game hit streak, dating back to the end of last season, come to an end
•    Keel also saw her five-game hit streak end and was held hitless for just the second time this season
•    Stagner did not reach base safely for the first time this spring
•    Cordova has recorded multi-hit performances in three of her last five games 

Up Next
•    South Alabama will close out competition at the Mardi Gras Classic with a single game versus Rutgers with first pitch versus the Scarlet Knights set for 11:30 a.m.

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