LAFAYETTE, La. | South Alabama scored a pair of runs in each of the first two innings and Olivia Lackie tossed a four-hit, complete game as the third-seeded Jaguars earned a 4-1 victory Thursday morning in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Championship held at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park.

South Alabama (39-13) advances to the semifinal round which is set for 4 p.m. on Friday.

Lackie (21-7) struck out 10 in her seven innings of work, allowing just four singles, and didn't walk a batter.

Meredith Keel and Mackenzie Brasher had a hit, scored a run and drove in a run in the victory, while Brasher also 

Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- Opening statement: "Congratulations to James Madison on a great season, they are a great opponent. They run a first-class program and do things the right way. They obviously have a lot of history as a winning program, so I want to congratulate them again on a great year and compliment them on the type of program they run. 

"The first win (of a conference tournament) is always a huge win. You want to get that first one under your belt, especially in a single-elimination format. I'm proud of our kids for coming out and getting the job done. I thought we played good, not great, but good enough to get it done. As we go deeper in the tournament, hopefully we'll settle down and get things going a little bit better, but it's always great to get that first win."

- On the team playing with confidence right now: "I think we're playing with a lot of confidence. We've put together some wins and have played well down the stretch, which is always a good thing. We've found different ways to win. We know that every time our pitchers are on the mound, that they're going to give us a chance to win. Offensively, I thought we did enough to win, they're some places where I would like to have seen us have a little bit better at-bats. Our players are playing with a lot of confidence, I know they have a lot of purpose with what they're doing and I feel that we're in a place where we have high expectations."

- On getting off the quick start scoring a pair of runs in each of the first two innings: "I thought we did some good things early on. There was some stuff we had seen on video that I thought we executed well. Towards the middle of the game, I felt we kind of got away from that, and that's where I kind of saw the lag, but early on we were doing some really good things. Tomorrow, we're just going to have to clean some stuff up."

Junior P Olivia Lackie
- On settling down after the two, two-out hits in the top of the first: "I think it was a huge situation for me to be able to turn the inning over without giving up any runs after the back-to-back hits. The offense coming out and scoring runs in the bottom of the inning was good, because I knew they had my back. It's all part of us playing together and picking me up when I'm down."

- On getting ahead of JMU's batters: "I just went into the game today with an attack mindset. I knew JMU was aggressive and a very good offense, and I just wanted to go in there with my best stuff and lay it out on the line, and let whatever was going to happen, happen."

(3) South Alabama 4, (6) James Madison 1
James Madison threatened to get on the board first, recording back-to-back two-out, singles in the top of the first from Hannah Shifflett and Bella Henzler, but Lackie was able to get Jasmine Hill swinging, her second strikeout of the frame, to leave the runners stranded.

Keel led off the next half inning with a double to the gap in left center – her 11th double of the season. The Jags took advantage of a defensive miscue with some aggressive base running as Keel came around to score (1-0) from second when Brasher reached on a fielding error when the throw to first was dropped by Shifflett. Brasher then stole second and third to move into scoring position and with two out, Sasha Willems lined a single to left center to plate the second run of the inning for South Alabama (2-0).

After seeing a first-pitch strike to start the Jaguar second, Bailey Welch walked as the next four were out of the zone. Emma Kropp was then hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second, and Marley Sims then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Keel then lifted a ball out to left which was deep enough to bring home Welch from third and extend the lead to 3-0. Pinch runner Erin McGlothlin advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Brasher dropped in a single in shallow center to make it 4-0.

James Madison pushed across an unearned run in its half of the fifth. Hallie Hall reached on an error to start the frame – the first Dukes base runner to reach since the third and snapping a streak of 10-straight retired by Lackie. H. Hall then moved up to third on a ground out and two batters later, Abby Campbell reached on an infield single to score the unearned run (4-1).

Scoring Summary
•    1st Inn | Brasher reached on an error by 1b; Keel scored, unearned (1-0, USA)
•    1st Inn | Willems singled to left center, RBI; Brasher scored, unearned (2-0, USA)
•    2nd Inn | Keel flied out left, sacrifice, RBI; Welch scored (3-0, USA)
•    2nd Inn | Brasher singled to center, RBI; McGlothlin scored (4-0, USA)
•    5th Inn | Campbell singled to shortstop, RBI; H. Hall scored, unearned (4-1, JMU)

Postgame Notes
•    With the win, South Alabama has won 14-straight and 25 of its last 29
•    In a streak dating back to May 7, 2021, Brasher made her 109th consecutive start, which moved her into a tie for 14th-longest streak in program history at South Alabama
•    Lackie was able to get ahead of JMU's batters as she threw a first-pitch strike to each of the first 11 batters and 24 of the 26 she faced
•    The junior also had 16, 0-2 counts, retiring all but two, including nine of her 10 strikeouts
•    The only two Duke batters to reach after falling behind 0-2 in the count were on an error and a single
•    The double-digit strikeout game was the sixth of the season and the 19th of Lackie's career, her first since striking out 11 against Tennessee Tech (3/3)
•    Lackie has now been credited with the win in 13 of her last 17 starts, while the complete-game effort was the 52nd of her career
•    With her strikeout of Kylee Gleason to end the JMU third, Lackie moved into a tie for third place with former Jag and current pitching coach Hanna Campbell (666, 2011-14)
•    Lackie (669) then moved into sole possession of third with her strikeout of J. Hall to end the fourth
•    With her first-inning double, Keel has had at least one hit in 38 of South's 51 games, including 23 of her last 28, while reaching base safely in 28 of her last 31, and 21 of her last 22
•    The double also extended her current hit streak (10) and reached base safely (14) streaks, both of which are career bests
•    Keel has also scored a run in 12 of her last 14 and over that stretch she has crossed the plate 17 times
•    With her two stolen bases in the first inning, Brasher has had multiple steals in eight games this spring
•    Willems has had at least one hit in 11 of her last 16, reaching base safely in 12 of those contests
•    With her second-inning, RBI single, Brasher (165) moved into a tie with Amanda Minahan (2014-17) for ninth in the career category
•    Ortiz's 29-game reached base streak is the longest single-season streak and second longest in program history
•    The 10 sacrifice hits by Willems are now tied for sixth-most in a season, matching Carolina Mendoza who did so during the 2007 campaign

Up Next
•    South Alabama advances to the semifinal round and will now play the winner of second-seeded Marshall/seventh-seeded Coastal Carolina on Friday at 4 p.m. at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park.

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