TROY, Ala. | South Alabama scored all six of its runs over the first three innings and Tori Miller tossed her second complete game of the season as the Jags evened the series with a 6-3 victory Saturday afternoon at the Troy Softball Complex.

Mackenzie Brasher led the club at the plate as she was 4-for-5 with a pair or RBI and a pair of runs scored. Gabby Stagner also drove in two with a two-run home run and Bailey Welch reached three times with a pair of walks, a hit, scored a run and drove in a run.

As a team, South Alabama (28-16-1, 13-7 SBC) drew seven walks.

Taylor McKinney and Anslee Finch both homered for Troy (32-18, 12-8 SBC) in the loss.

Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- On the team bouncing back and evening the series: "I'm proud of our effort and teamwork today. Tori (Miller) gritted it out and our offense had some timely hitting. I thought we applied pressure the entire game. This was a great team win and sets us up for another great game tomorrow."

Senior OF Mackenzie Brasher
- On the team and the offense bouncing back: "We put a big emphasis on having freedom at the plate and being confident. We have proven that we are good enough to beat the best teams in the nation. Our goal this game was to have quality at-bats and continue stacking them. We have another big game tomorrow and we need to come out ready to take care of business."

Sophomore P Tori Miller
- On getting early run support: "The early runs gave me the extra confidence to just make pitches, especially after giving up a couple of runs. Watching our hitters continue to keep working and tacking more on just fired me up to work for them too."

How It Happened 
•    Brasher led off the game with an infield hit and the graduate senior then moved into scoring position with her 25th stolen base of the season. Two batters later, Stagner drove a 2-1 deep over the center field wall to put the Jags up (2-0). Odalys Cordova, Sasha Willems and Sidney Lee drew three-straight walks to load the bases with two outs. Welch then worked the count full and drew the fourth-consecutive walk of the inning to bring in Cordova
•    Libby Baker bounced a two-out single back up the middle in the bottom half of the first, and McKinney pulled the Trojans within one with a two-run shot of her own, her second straight homer in as many at-bats (USA, 3-2). 
•    South Alabama got a run back the next half inning. Brasher led off the Jaguar second with her second hit of the afternoon, this one a single to left, and Marley Sims followed with an infield hit to put a pair on for the Jaguars. With one out in the inning, Olivia Branstetter was hit by a pitch to load the bases – the seventh time this season that the freshman has been hit. South was able to get a run when the third strike to Willems was wild and got away from the Trojan catcher, allowing Brasher to race home (USA, 4-2).
•    The Jaguars kept the scoring going their third time at the plate with two more runs on one hit and three walks. Welch drew a free pass – her second of the contest – to begin the frame and Amity White also walked – the sixth of the game drawn by the Jags – to put a pair aboard. Welch and White then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, and Brasher then brought the duo in as she lined a single down the third-base line, extending the South Alabama advantage to four (6-2).
•    Troy trimmed the Jaguar lead to three (6-3) in its half of the fourth when Anslee Finch lined a one-out homer to left.
•    The Trojans had a chance to tie the game or take the lead in their half of the fifth. Natalie Turner singled to left with one out, and with two outs Jade Sinness reached on an infield single. Baker then walked to load the bases, but Miller (3-0) was able to get a fly out to center to get out of the jam.
•    Troy had another scoring opportunity its next time up. Pinch hitter Kayden Dunn drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth and then advanced to second on a wild pitch, but the Trojan runner was stranded after a pop out to first.

Postgame Notes
•    The meeting marked the 51st in the all-time series and the 26th series meeting in Troy
•    South leads the series 32-19 and has won five of last six in the series 
•    South Alabama was able to get the leadoff batter on base in five of its seven innings, while Miller didn't allow the leadoff batter to reach in the game
•    Brasher made her 155th consecutive start, which is three shy of tying Kristian Foster (158) for sixth all-time in the category
•    With her leadoff single to start the game, Brasher has had a hit in 16 of her last 20, tallying 25 hits over the 20-game stretch and reached base safely in 17 of those contests
•    Brasher now has 56 career multi-hit games, one away from tying Brittany Fowler (57, 2010-14) for second place at South
•    The four hits marked Brasher's team-best 14th multi-hit game of the spring and the four hits were a new career best
•    With her two runs scored, the center fielder (140) is one run scored shy of tying Emily Messer (141, 2013-16) for third in the category
•    Brasher has scored a run in five of her last six games and stolen a base in four of her last six
•    The home run for Stagner was her 12th of the spring, moving her into a tie with Victoria Ortiz for second place in single-season home runs, and just one shy of matching Kaitlyn Griffith's single-season mark (25) set during the 2015 season
•    The two-run homer was also the 24th of Stagner's Jaguar career tying her Haley Hopkins (2009-12) for seventh in the category
•    Stagner (24) tied Chloe Rathburn (2014-15) for 11th in career multi-RBI games with her two?? RBI performance
•    The two-run home run moved Stagner (99) into the Top 10 of the career category at South and into ninth place as she passed Stephanie Pilkington (98, 2013-16)
•    After the bases-loaded walk, Welch has now drawn a walk in six of her last seven games, eight total over that stretch, and reached base safely in seven of her last eight and 18 of her last 24
•    The senior leftfielder has driven in five runs in three of her last four outings

Up Next
•    South Alabama will close out the series with Troy on Sunday with first pitch versus the Trojans set for 1 p.m.

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