MOBILE, Ala. | Ryley Harrison held Troy to five hits and struck out eight as South Alabama opened Sun Belt Conference play with a 3-2 victory Friday night at Jaguar Field.

Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- On the series opening win: "Besides a hiccup here and there, I thought we were solid tonight. A win is always a great way to start a series and start the conference segment of our schedule. Troy is a good team and we have our work cut out for us the next two days."

Junior RHP Ryley Harrison
- On her performance in the circle: "After playing a few of the Power 4 teams that we've played, myself and Coach Hannah (Campbell) have been in the bullpen working on certain things that can be better. I think all my pitches worked really well tonight, and whenever Troy adjusted to certain pitches, I was able to use other tools in my box."

- On opening the series and league play with a win: "Getting off on the right foot is great, especially against Troy an in-state conference rival. I think it sets the tone for us. Tonight was a great team win. We dug in in a place where we needed a run, and Kara (Wine) executed that part, which shows we can execute of big and little things."

Key Moments
•    Troy (16-8, 0-1 SBC) threatened in the opening frame placing a pair on with two outs, but Harrison (9-4) struck out Kiley Huffman – her third of the frame – to strand the two Trojan runners
•    The Trojans again threatened in their half of the second, placing two aboard with two outs, but Harrison recorded a strikeout to work out of the jam, retiring Presley Ivey – her 200th career strikeout
•    The Jags broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth Gracie Dees led off the inning with her 10th double of the season, and one batter later, Virginia Mambelli drove a 1-0 pitch off Abby Lovell (3-3) over the wall in left center (USA, 2-0)
•    Troy answered right back as Makaley Boswell two-run home run to left to tie the game (2-2)
•    In the bottom half of the fifth, South was able to take advantage of a Trojan error that kept the inning alive, and with runners at the corners, Kara Wine delivered a two-out RBI-single back up the middle off a diving effort by the Trojan second baseman, allowing Dees to score (USA, 3-2) 
•    Troy had placed the tying and potential game-winning runs aboard in the top of the seventh, but Harrison snagged hot shot back up middle and threw onto first for the final out to seal the win

Key Stats
•    Dees reached all three of her plate appearances as she was 2-for-2 with a walk
•    Mambelli had the two-run home run, giving her her third multi-RBI game of the spring
•    Harrison struck out eight and held Troy to just five hits in her seven innings of work
•    Boswell homered and drove in the only two runs for the Trojans in the loss

Postgame Notes
•    Dating back to the 2020 season, South Alabama has now won six of its last seven, Sun Belt home opening games
•    Bot the two runs and the five hits by Troy were tied for second-lowest totals this season in both categories, as the Trojans entered the series leading the Sun Belt in batting average and averaging nearly seven runs a game
•    Reganied Franka extended her hit streak to six games with her first-inning, bunt single
•    With the two-hit performance, Dees now has a team-best six multi-hit games this season
•    Dees has had a hit in eight of her last 10, and has recorded at least one hit in 21 of last her last 26 games
•    Mambelli has reached base safely in seven straight games
•    Wine has had either a hit, a walk or driven in a run in 13 of her last 15 games

Up Next
•    South Alabama will continue the series on Saturday with first pitch versus the Trojans set for 3 p.m. at Jaguar Field.

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