BATON ROUGE, La. | South Alabama softball will close out its 10-game road trip this weekend when it competes at the LSU Round Robin held at Tiger Park.
South will open up tournament play on Friday with a pair of games against LSU at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and then face Minnesota (3:30 p.m.) on Saturday, before closing out play at the event on Sunday at 11 a.m. versus the Gophers. Live stats, audio stream and the ESPN+ links (LSU games only) can be accessed on the schedule page.
South Alabama (11-10) enters the LSU Round Robin after falling 8-2 at McNeese State on Wednesday night. The Cowgirls took control of the game with a five-run third, with four of those runs being unearned.
Gabby Stagner (.357) is tied for second in the Sun Belt in home runs and tied for 15th in the category nationally with eight this season. The senior first baseman also ranks second in the league in slugging percentage (.875), and third in RBI (23) and OPS (1.321). Stagner currently ranks second all-time at South Alabama in career home runs (35), just one shy of matching Kamdyn Kvistad's program mark.
Olivia Branstetter (14) is second on the club in RBI, while
Amity White and
Caitlyn Gavin each have 11. Branstetter and
Megan Davidson are also each hitting .304 entering the weekend.
Sidney Lee leads the club with a .364 batting average and her seven doubles are also tops on the team and tied for third in the league. Lee is also tied for fourth in on-base percentage (.500).
Presley Lively is also batting .298 and the true freshman leads the Sun Belt triples (3) and walks (21), while her 12 stolen bases are second-most in the league, as well as her runs scored (23). Six of Lively's hits have gone for extra bases, including an inside-the-park home run, and her three triples are tied for 14th in the NCAA.
Led by Lively, South currently leads the SBC in walks with 105, and holds five of the top 10 spots: Lively,
Amity White (14, fifth), Stagner and Branstetter (12, t-seventh) and
Megan Davidson (11, 10th). As a team, South also leads the Sun Belt in hit-by-pitch (21) and triples (9), ranks third in runs scored (128) and RBI (110), and fourth in home runs (14), total bases (231) and on-base percentage (.411)
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Site: Tiger Park (Baton Rouge, La.)
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Fri. | South Alabama at LSU | 4 pm
Fri. | South Alabama at LSU | 6 pm
Sat. | South Alabama vs. Minnesota | 3:30 pm
Sun | South Alabama vs. Minnesota | 11 am
South Alabama JAGUARS
NFCA: -- | USA: -- | SA: -- | DI: -- | RPI: 102
Record: 11-10, 0-0 SBC
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .277 / .451 / .405
Team ERA: 5.52
LSU TIGERS
NFCA: 4 | USA: 5 | SA: 6 | DI: 6 | RPI: 9
Record: 19-1, 0-0 SEC
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .373 / .550 / .476
Team ERA: 1.59
Series: LSU leads 13-2
Minnesota GOPHERS
NFCA: -- | USA: -- | SA: -- | DI: -- | RPI: 114
Record: 9-10, 0-0 Big Ten
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .272 / .452 / .358
Team ERA: 4.74
Series: Minnesota leads 2-0
NOTES
• Over the course of the Jaguar program's history, South Alabama has competed at five different tournaments hosted by LSU: LSU Purple & Gold Classic (2010), LSU Purple & Gold Challenge (2008), Tiger Classic (2014, 2022), Tiger Invitational (2012)
• South Alabama and LSU have met 15 previous times in the all-time series, with the Tigers winning 13 of those meetings, including the last eight in the series
• The Jags and Minnesota have met two previous times in the all-time series
• Gabby (35) is one home run shy of matching Kamdyn Kvistad's program mark (36, 2018-22)
• Stagner has had a hit in eight straight and driven in 10 runs over that stretch, while reaching base safely in each of her last 11
• Davidson has reached base safely in nine straight games
• Branstetter has had a hit in seven straight, and reached base in eight-straight games
FOLLOW THE JAGS
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