MOBILE, Ala. |
Gracie Dees broke a 3-3 tie with a sixth-inning solo shot in game two to give South Alabama a 4-3 win over Louisiana and give the Jags the series and the doubleheader split Saturday afternoon at Jaguar Field.
With the win, South Alabama (29-25, 13-11 SBC) locked up the fifth seed for next week's Sun Belt Conference Championship. The Jags tied with James Madison in the final standings, but due to their regular-season series sweep of the Dukes in Harrisonburg, earned the higher seed due to the tiebreaker.
South Alabama will open up postseason play on Thursday at 7 p.m. against fourth-seeded Southern Miss (33-23, 14-10 SBC).
The 10-team, single-elimination tournament will begin on Wednesday, May 6 at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La., with a pair of first round match ups, followed by four quarterfinal games on Thursday, May 7 and two semifinal contests on Friday, May 8. The championship game on Saturday, May 9 will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. CT.
All session tickets for outfield general admission can be purchased for $75 and are available through the UL Ticket Office or by calling (337) 482-4685. All session grandstand seating unclaimed by UL season ticket holders will go on sale Saturday, April 18 with bench back seats available at $100 and chairbacks for $125. Tickets for individual sessions are also available: $15 general admission tickets, $20 for bench back seats and $25 for chairbacks, and additional fees may apply.
Quotable – head coach Becky Clark
- On getting the series win: "I'm incredibly proud of our kids. The fight and the grit that they showed, and just digging in and getting the job done on their home field against a very good Louisiana team. UL is a historic program, and we always know when we play them that it's going to be a battle. That was a huge moral victory and a huge on-paper victory."
- On
Gracie Dees home run: "It was big. The wind was not our friend today. I thought we would have had more home runs today had it not been for the wind. Sometimes that's the way it goes. We squared up quite a few balls that I think would have been out, and she final got something to go."
- On how the team is playing heading into the postseason: "I think they are playing well together. There's a lot of grit, a lot of fight. This weekend was huge for us to take into this next week, especially should we face them on their home field."
Freshman OF Gracie Dees
- On winning the series: "Being able to win the series was really big for us with it being Senior Weekend and Graduation Day. After we lost the first game of the day, we had to come together as a team, and we decided that we weren't going to lose the second game."
- On the home run: "I had come up a little unlucky earlier in the game, but that one felt really good. The pitch was high and inside, which is my pitch. Because of the way the wind had been all day, I really didn't know it was going to get out until I saw it go over."
Game One: Louisiana 2, South Alabama 1
Key Moments
• Louisiana (28-25, 11-12 SBC) looked as if it had taken the early lead as Mia Liscano came around to score on a double to left center by Haley Hart, but upon video review, the call was overturned as Liscano was ruled to have left early taking the run off the board
• South Alabama (28-25, 12-11 SBC) had its first scoring opportunity in its half of the fourth as
Presley Lively led off the bottom of the fourth with an infield single, moved into scoring position on
Kara Wine's sacrifice bunt, and then advanced to third on a fly out to the warning track in left on a ball that was held up by the wind, but Lexie Delbrey was able to get a fly out two pitches later to strand the runner
•
Sydney Stewart drew a leadoff walk to begin the Jaguar fifth, and one batter later pinch runner
Edy Gavin moved to third on a sac bunt by Dees and a UL throwing error, before coming home on
Ansleigh Smith's two-out hit back up the middle (USA, 1-0),
• The Ragin' Cajuns answered back with a run in the sixth as Kennedy Marceaux tied the game up (1-1) with a two-out double to left, scoring Makayla Fergueson from third, who was pinch running for Mia Norwood who had singled through the left side of the infield to begin the inning
• Brooke Otto led off the seventh with a double to left, and pinch runner Erin Ardoin moved to third on a sac bunt by Haley Hart and then scored on a wild pitch (UL, 2-1)
Key Stats
•
Sydney Scapin tossed six innings and allowed just two base runners on one hit and one walk
• Julianne Tipton (5-5) earned the win in relief as she retired all four batters she faced in her 1.2 innings of work
Postgame Notes
• Game two of the series was postponed due to weather and moved to game one of the doubleheader
• Prior to the game on Friday,
Brooklynn Bockhaus was recognized prior to the game as part of her Senior Day celebration
• Lively has had a hit in 18 of her last 24 games and reached base safely in 21 of her last 25
•
Kara Wine has had a hit in 11 of her last 15 and has reached base safely in 19 of her last 22
• Wine has had either a hit, a walk or driven in a run in 29 of her last 36 games
Game Two: South Alabama 4, Louisiana 3
Key Moments
• Louisiana (28-26, 11-13 SBC) threatened to get on the scoreboard first in the top of the first placing a pair of runners in scoring position with one out after a single by Liscano and a hit batter, but
Olivia Cato retired the next two batters to work out of the jam
• The Jaguars took advantage of the missed opportunity and scored three runs on a pair of hits, and recorded three stolen bases
• Lively opened the fame with an infield single, and was moved into scoring position on Wine's second sacrifice bunt of the doubleheader, before coming home on
Olivia Branstetter's triple to the gap in right center (USA, 1-0)
• With runners at the corners after
Virginia Mambelli was hit by a pitch, South Alabama executed the double steal as Branstetter scored from third
• Pinch runner
Edy Gavin, then swiped her second base of the inning to move to third and came home on
Sydney Stewart's RBI-ground out (USA, 3-0)
• The Ragin' Cajuns answered back with a pair of runs in their half of the second to trim the Jaguar lead to one
• With the bases loaded, Ardoin scored the first run on a fielder's choice (USA, 3-1), and Marceaux then plated the second run with a RBI-ground out to short (USA, 3-2)
• UL placed a pair on with two outs after Ardoin reached on an infield single, but
Ryley Harrison (15-12) was able to strikeout Lily Knox to strand the runners and maintain the one-run lead for the Jaguars
• Louisiana tied the game back up (3-3) in the top of the fifth with an unearned run as Hart scored from third on Cecila Vasquez's bunt single – the third time she had reached base safely in the contest
• South Alabama had a chance to answer back in the bottom half of the inning as Wine dropped in a two-out single in shallow center and a single by Branstetter – her second hit of the game – but Sage Hoover (10-12) held the Jags off the scoreboard as she struck out Mambelli to end the inning
• Dayzja Williams led off the sixth with an infield single and was then moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt who then moved to third on a ground out, but she was left stranded after a diving catch by Bockhaus on a hard-hit liner in left
• Dees put South Alabama back on top as she drove a 1-1, one-out pitch over the wall in left (USA, 4-3) off of Hoover
• Vasquez walked with two outs to place the tying run aboard in the seventh, but
Ryley Harrison (15-12) was able to strike out Fergueson to end the game
Key Stats
• Branstetter was 2-for-3 in the win with a RBI and a run scored
• Dees also posted a multi-hit game as the freshman was also 2-for-3 with a home run
• Harrison tossed six innings of relief, allowing just one unearned run on six hits, while striking out five
Postgame Notes
• The SBC series win over Louisiana marks the first time since the 2013 season that the Jaguars have taken a regular-season series off of the Ragin' Cajuns when they took two of three in Mobile that spring
• The multi-hit game was the 27th of Branstetter's career, tying her with Britany Campbell (2010-13) for 22nd on the all-time list
• The multi-hit games also marked the 10th of the spring for Dees and Branstetter
• The triple marked the second of the season for Branstetter and her 18th extra-base hit
• The triple by Branstetter was also the 15th of the season by the Jags, tying them with the 2011 club for the most in a season
• The hit-by-pitch marked the 13th of the spring for Mambelli moving her into fourth on South's single-season chart, passing Brittany Fowler (12, 2012)
• Mambelli has reached base safely in 19 of her last 22, and 25 of her last 29
• The sacrifice bunt for Bockhaus marked the 18th of her Jaguar career moving into a tie for eighth place in the category with former Jags Haley Richards (2011-12),
Mackenzie Brasher (2020-24) and
Marley Sims (2023-24)
• Wine has had a hit in 12 of her last 16 and has reached base safely in 20 of her last 23
• Wine has had either a hit, a walk or driven in a run in 30 of her last 37 games
Up Next
• South Alabama will open postseason play at the Sun Belt Conference Championship held at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La., next week. The Jags will open up with fourth-seeded Southern Miss on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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