Alcorn Splits Doubleheader with MVSU on Senior Day

LORMAN, Miss. – The SWAC East Division champion Alcorn State University softball program defeated Mississippi Valley State 10-2 in five innings before dropping the rubber match 7-1 in a doubleheader Saturday at the Alcorn Softball Complex.
 
It was Senior Day for the Lady Braves (16-27, 13-5 SWAC) who honored eight student-athletes before the games. Among those were Jazmin Castillo, Madison Chitwood, Sametria Collins, Catherine Gore, Adriana Gutierrez, Courtenay Holt, Montana Holyfield and Vanessa Sanders, as well as graduate assistant Ilene Suleymenyan.
 
Game One
The Lady Braves fell behind early as MVSU (12-29, 7-8 SWAC) scored two in the first inning, however they quickly answered with five in their first at-bat.
 
The frame started with a walk by Collins, and after she stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch, she scored on an RBI single by up the middle by Gutierrez. A double by junior Mariah Ortiz plated Gutierrez and moved junior Jessica Crum to third after she singled. Alcorn played station-to-station as sophomore Victoria Tyler ripped a hit to center to score Crum. The final blow came on a two RBI hit by Gore up the middle to make it 5-2.
 
The Lady Braves added three more in their next at-bat in the second inning. After an infield single by Gutierrez, junior Taylor Hughes tripled down the left field line to register an RBI. Crum followed with a triple to score Hughes, and was plated by an RBI hit to the left by Holt.
 
Alcorn finished it off with two runs in the third. Junior Bre Glenn led-off with a single to the right and scored on a triple to left-center by Collins; the play continued after a fielding error at short which allowed Collins to touch home.
 
The Lady Braves knocked three triples in the contest. Collins, the reigning SWAC hitter of the Week Winner, notched a pair of hits as well as Gutierrez. Crum posted three hits for the seventh time this year.
 
Castillo got the start and pitched one inning. Junior Madi Creed was called upon after the first half inning and picked up her fifth win after tossing 4.0 shutout frames. She allowed just two hits.
 
Alcorn out-hit MVSU 10-2. The Lady Braves did not make an error defensively.
 
Chandler Ellis took the loss for the Delta Devilettes after allowing 10 hits and eight runs in 2.0 innings. Deja Talton went two-for-two with two RBI at the plate.
 
Game Two
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Delta Devilettes broke through with three runs after a controversial play. With the bases loaded and one out, a fly ball was hit to right field where Gutierrez made a diving shoe-string catch. The MVSU base-runners did not know whether the ball was caught or not and continued to run the base paths. After the first base umpire put his arm up signaling an out, Gutierrez threw to second to double-up the runner and get out of the inning. However, after a long discussion, the play was ruled an out in right field but the base runners were credited with tagging up on the play which allowed the runner from third to score and the runner from second to advance as the inning to continued. MVSU took advantage of the extended opportunity to go up 3-0.
 
Alcorn got one back in the bottom half. It came on a two-out RBI single by Collins to left field with the bases loaded, but the Delta Devilettes were able to throw out the trail runner from home to limit the damage and stay ahead 3-1.
 
MVSU leaped ahead 7-1 in the fifth after scoring four runs. The Delta Devilettes cashed in on a pair of errors and garnered a few timely hits.
 
Hughes went two-for-three in the contest. She extended her on-base streak to 18 games.
 
Freshman Ambria Dorsey got the start and threw 4.0 innings. She gave up six runs but only one was earned. Harrison tossed 3.0 innings in relief and did not allow an earned run.
 
Rebekah Clinton was credited the win after throwing a complete-game. Dejanae Gage led MVSU offensively with three hits.
 
Up Next
The Lady Braves completed their conference schedule and will enter the SWAC Championships as the top-seed from the east. Alcorn will conclude the regular season Tuesday in a doubleheader at Memphis. The 2017 SWAC Championships is slated for May 10-13 in Montgomery, Alabama on the campus of Alabama State University.
 
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