MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama's
Olivia Lackie tossed her 10th shutout of the season as the Jaguars took game one of the Sun Belt Conference series, 6-0 Friday evening at Jaguar Field.
Lackie (12-4) allowed just two hits and walked a batter, while striking out eight.
Sasha Willems was one of three players for South Alabama (23-10, 6-1 SBC) to record multiple hits as she was 2-for-2 with three RBI.
Mackenzie Brasher was 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI, three stolen bases and a pair of runs scored, while
Meredith Keel had a hit, an RBI and scored a pair of runs as well.
Gabby Stagner was 2-for-3 with a double.
ULM fell to 19-16 overall and 3-4 in the league with the loss.
Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- On the win: "I thought we played one of our best team games tonight. Our offense kept stringing quality at-bats together and applying pressure and Liv (
Olivia Lackie) did her job on the mound. ULM is a quality team and very well coached so to get the opening night win was big for us. Tomorrow is a new day and we will come out and work to do it all over again."
Junior P Olivia Lackie
- On her performance in the circle: "I feel that the combination of my screw(ball), curve and rise worked really well for me tonight. I was able to keep the hitters on their toes."
- On her pitching as of late: "I've been performing well as of late, but it all boils down to me just wanting to compete for my teammates, and get us out of innings so we can get back in the dugout and score some runs."
- On the confidence the team is playing with right now: "The confidence that we're playing with right now is huge. We came off the loss to Texas State (last weekend) and we were able to win the next day in a big way. We're just trying to continue carrying that momentum for the remainder of the season."
Junior C Sasha Willems
- On the confidence the team is playing with right now: "Our team has really worked on coming together and being confident and doing the little things. The confidence that we have right now is helping us rally as a team and that's just giving us the success and the ability to do the things we need to do right."
- On her performance at the plate: "At the plate, I was just really calm tonight. Last week, I didn't do what I wanted at the plate, so this week I came out with a new approach and just looked for a pitch that I could drive."
South Alabama 6, ULM 0
ULM threatened to score in the opening frame as Lourdes Bacon singled to left center with one out and then moved around to third on a stolen base and a groundout, but Lackie was able to get Madison Blount swinging to end the inning.
With one away in the bottom half of the inning, Brasher singled through the left side of the infield. The Orange Beach, Ala., native later moved into scoring position with her team-leading 17th stolen base of the spring. Willems then drew a two-out walk after working the count full, and
Odalys Cordova lined a single to center, but Kennedy Page's throw was on target and got the Jag runner at home.
Jacelyn Buck doubled to left with two out in the top half of the second to another runner in scoring position for the Warhawks, but for the second-straight inning Lackie recorded a strikeout to leave the runner stranded as she was able to get Maddie Nichols (1-1) looking.
Keel walked on four-straight out of the zone in the third, who then moved into scoring position one batter later on a ground out to third.
Victoria Ortiz then drew a one-out walk, and Willems went the opposite way as she lined a single to right, scoring Keel and moving Ortiz to third. South Alabama threatened to do more damage in the frame, loading the bases after a Cordova walk, but Nichols induced a ground-ball double play to work out of the jam.
South Alabama broke open a one-run game with four runs on four hits in its half of the fourth. For the second consecutive inning, the Jags had the leadoff batter reach on a four-pitch walk from
Abby Allen, who moved into scoring position after a wild pitch.
Marley Sims then doubled over the center fielder's head, scoring Allen (2-0) and moved up to third on an errant throw home. Keel then dropped in a double of her own in left center to plate Sims and make it 3-0 in favor of South. Brasher kept the scoring going as she drove in the third run of the inning with a single through the right side of the infield to bring home Keel (4-0).
Brasher led off the Jaguar sixth with an infield single and the senior outfielder then stole second – her third stolen base of the evening – and moved to third on the play on an errant throw. Two batters later, Willems drove in her third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right (6-0).
Lackie had retired 13-straight batters before allowing a leadoff walk to begin the seventh, but the Walker, La., native struck out the next batter and then had pinch hitter Alexis Chavez to line out into a game-ending double play.
Scoring Summary
• 3rd Inn | Willems lined a single to right, RBI; Keel scored (1-0, USA)
• 4th Inn | Sims doubled to center, advanced to third on an error by ss, RBI; Allen scored (2-0, USA)
• 4th Inn | Keel doubled to left center, RBI; Sims scored (3-0, USA)
• 4th Inn | Brasher singled through the right side of the infield, RBI; Keel scored (4-0, USA)
• 4th Inn | Willems singled to center, RBI; Brasher scored (5-0, USA)
• 6th Inn | Willems flew out to left, sacrifice, RBI: Brasher scored, unearned Text on the inning (Score, Team)
Postgame Notes
• The start in right was the 150th of Ortriz's career, while Keel made the 125th start of her Jaguar career at third
• South Alabama had the leadoff batter reach by either a walk or a hit in five of its six innings
• Brasher has had a hit in 10 of her last 13 games and reached base safely in 11 of those contests, including each of her last eight
• Brasher has scored at least one run in eight-straight games and 11 of her last 12, and over her past eight games, she has scored 13 runs, including multiple runs on four occasions
• With her three stolen bases, Brasher became just the fifth Jaguar to record 50 stolen bases for her career, moved passed Emily Messer (2013-16) for sole possession of fifth
• With her first-inning single, Cordova has had a hit in 10 of her last 14 outings
• Keel has reached base safely in 10 of the last 11 with her third-inning walk, and scored a run in 10 of her last 13
• Keel has had at least one hit in 23 of South's 32 games
• Ortiz extended her reached base safely streak 10 games
• Sims has reached base safely in 22 of her last 30
• The multi-RBI game for Willems was her sixth of the season and her first since driving in four in game one of the Georgia State series (3/18)
• The two-hit performance by Stagner was the sophomore's sixth of the season and her double was her seventh – tying her with Ortiz for the team lead
• Lackie (453.0) is now an inning and two-thirds shy of matching Beard (454.2) for fourth in career innings pitched
• Lackie now been credited with the win in five of her last six starts
• Since her Feb. 17 start vs. Mississippi Valley State, Lackie has allowed one or fewer runs in 12 of her last 15 starts, tossing 10 shutouts over that stretch
Up Next
• South Alabama will take on ULM on Saturday with first pitch of game two of the series set for 3 p.m. at Jaguar Field.
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