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STARKVILLE, Miss. – The schedule changed for the Alex Wilcox Memorial Tournament as the Alcorn State University softball program will play Sunday at Monday at Nusz Park, hosted by Mississippi State.
No games will be played Friday or Saturday.
The Lady Braves (2-3) will open the tournament at 10 a.m. Sunday versus Georgia Tech, followed by a 5:30 p.m. contest against Southeastern Louisiana. On Monday at 12:30 p.m., Alcorn will play Southeastern Louisiana again, and wrap-up the day with a 5:30 p.m. game against Mississippi State.
"We are looking forward to the opportunity to play this weekend. There are some competitive teams in this tournament and we are excited to be a part of it," said Alcorn head coach
Josef Rankin. "Coach [Rick] Fremin does an awesome job at SLU. Their style of play really puts pressure on you defensively.
"Coach [Aileen] Morales and Georgia Tech are going to be a challenge for us, but we are really looking forward to playing another Power Five team. Anytime you have an ACC and an SEC team on the schedule, that's great for us."
Alcorn swept the SWAC weekly awards Monday. Senior
Paige Taylor was named the Pitcher of the Week, and junior
Brittney Triplett was the Hitter of the Week.
In a doubleheader sweep over Kentucky State, Taylor pitched every inning and was 2-0. In her two complete-games, she surrendered just one run and a .143 opposing batting average. The right-hander tallied a 0.58 ERA on the weekend in 12.0 frames with six strikeouts. Taylor, the 2018 SWAC Newcomer of the Year, has never allowed a home run in her two years at Alcorn.
Triplett turned in a big weekend at the plate. She was 6-for-10 with six runs scored and a couple of RBI's. She hit for a .600 average and .667 on-base percentage. Triplett was also a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen bases and posted a 1.000 fielding percentage from the shortstop position. She's hitting for a .571 average on the year
Senior
Victoria Tyler is one hit away from reaching 100 in her career and would be the 14th Lady Brave to do so in school history. Tyler ranks eighth all-time in school history with 66 RBI's, and is approaching the top-10 list in doubles with 17.
Sophomore
Bri Smith is at the top of the Alcorn stat sheet with a .714 batting average in four games. In seven at-bats, she's knocked five hits including two doubles and a pair of walks. Smith is carrying a 1.000 slugging percentage.
Sophomore
Desirea Lindsey has notched a hit in every game this season. She's on a nine-game hitting-streak which carried over from last year.
Alcorn has outscored the opposition 11-4 in the first inning this year, and 6-1 in the fourth. The Lady Braves have used a different batting order in all five games this year, and 37 different lineups in 2018.
SLU is off to a 6-6 start and 3-0 against the SWAC. The Lady Lions beat MVSU twice 19-4 and 7-3 before shutting out PVAMU 7-0. Ella Manzer is the back-to-back reigning Southland Hitter of the Week winner. She's second in the nation with a .679 batting average with 19 hits in 28 at-bats.
MSU is 7-3 and coming off a 3-1 victory over Alabama State on Wednesday. The Bulldogs have two huge home run hitters as Mia Davidson is hitting for a .545 average with six homers, while Fa Leilua has a .345 average with seven homers. MSU has seven batters hitting over .300, and a .328 team batting average.
GA Tech can also swing the bat, as it has scored 70 runs in nine games. The Yellow Jackets are 5-4 overall with a two-game sweep over Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Breanna Roper leads the team at the plate with a .485 average, 10 runs scored, 13 RBIs, three doubles and two homers.
"We really just appreciated Coach Vann [Stuedeman] giving us the opportunity to be a part of the tournament. They have some of the best players in the country and you want to compete against the best. That is the only way for us to get better as a program and elevate. It's just up to us to go out there and compete. Let's get after it and see what happens," Rankin said.
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