Lady Braves Show Bright Spots in Defeats at Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. – In its final non-conference date of the regular season, the Alcorn State University softball program dropped a doubleheader to Ole Miss 14-0 and 8-1 Tuesday at the Ole Miss Softball Stadium.
 
Freshman Amari Ramsey highlighted the scoring for Alcorn (11-29) with her fifth home run of the season. It came on a shot to center in the third inning of game two to level the score 1-1.
 
The reigning SWAC Hitter of the Week winner, junior Victoria Tyler, went 3-for-5 at the plate over the two games. It included a multi-hit outing in game two, her ninth of the season.
 
"Today wasn't bad. You don't look to make excuses because Ole Miss is a very good team, but our pitchers can't afford to be put in a situation where they have to throw it across the middle of the plate to get strikes. We don't have a shot when we are put in a situation like that," said head coach Josef Rankin. "In spite of that, I thought we hung in there. We had some good at-bats throughout the games. We had a few players who hit the ball really hard. Victoria had a great day at the plate and she's in a really good place right now offensively. Amari finally got one on the barrel and that was really good to see."
 
The Lady Braves totaled eight hits in the doubleheader. In addition to a double to left by Tyler in game one, senior Taylor Hughes singled to left in her first at-bat and senior Robin Harrison doubled to right center in the second.
 
In game two, Alcorn nearly kept it even in hits as the Rebels (27-18) held a slight 7-5 edge. Freshman Malea Dickerson singled through the left side in the second and junior Kaylene Smith reached in an infield single in the fifth. Tyler knocked singles in the second and fourth frames.
 
In the circle, the Lady Braves used four different pitchers on the day including senior Robin Harrison, sophomore Ambria Dorsey, junior Winter Ridgeway and freshman Lindsey Eldridge. Alcorn kept it close early in game two with Eldridge making the start as she tossed 4.0 innings. Ridgeway surrendered just one earned run in 2.0 frames of relief.
 
"Lindsey and Winter did a really good job of throwing strikes in game two. Overall, it wasn't bad for our last mid-week. Now, our focus is solely on finishing out our conference schedule. We will get back to work and get prepared to head to the delta for a three-game series," Rankin said.
 
The Lady Braves will resume SWAC play this weekend when it travels to Mississippi Valley State. Game one is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday.
 
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