STARKVILLE, Miss. – Senior
Victoria Tyler reached the career 100-hit club with a home run against Georgia Tech which highlighted day one of the Alex Wilcox Memorial Tournament.
The Alcorn State University softball program was topped by the Yellow Jackets 8-4 and Southeastern Louisiana 8-0 Sunday at Nusz Park, hosted by Mississippi State.
"Our day was so-so. We had some good things happen. Victoria achieving a milestone was awesome. We did some good things offensively that were good, but we did not uphold the standard we need defensively. We have to work harder to be consistent with routine plays," said Alcorn head coach
Josef Rankin.
Tyler entered the day just one hit away from the 100-hit milestone. In her second at-bat against GT (6-5), she cranked a homer to left field on a 3-1 pitch. It was part of back-to-back home runs for the Lady Braves (2-5) as sophomore
Amari Ramsey followed with a bomb to right field.
Tyler becomes the 14th student-athlete in school history to reach 100 hits.
Tyler also singled in the seventh inning to raise her career total to 101. She tallied three RBI's which moves her up to seventh all-time in school history with 69.
The back-to-back homers by Tyler and Ramsey came in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 5-2. After the Yellow Jackets pushed the lead up to 8-2, the Lady Braves made one last rally in the seventh.
It started with a one-out pinch-hit single by junior
Taja Landry. With two outs, junior
Simone McKinney reached on an infield single, and both runners get into scoring position with a steal. Tyler delivered a two-RBI hit to make it an 8-4 game.
Junior
Ambria Dorsey got the start and struck out a pair in 3.1 innings. She took the loss after giving up five earned runs. Senior
Paige Taylor tossed 3.2 frames of relief and allowed just one earned run.
The Yellow Jackets were led by Breanna Roper's 3-for-4 day with four RBI's and three runs scored. Amber Johns picked up the win in the circle.
GT barely outhit Alcorn 9-8. Ramsey and McKinney both registered multi-hit outings.
In game two, the Lady Braves mustered hits from junior
Brittney Triplett, sophomore
Malea Dickerson and junior
Eva Scott.
SLU (7-7) was clinging to a 1-0 lead when it plated five runs in the fourth to catapult ahead 6-0. Taylor pitched a complete-game and allowed five earned runs.
Karlee Kraft threw 5.0 innings of shutout ball to grab the win for the Lady Lions. Bobbi Smith turned in a 2-for-2 day with a walk, two RBI's and two runs scored.
Taylor kept SLU's Ella Manzer in check. Manzer, the two-time reigning Southland Conference Hitter of the Week, went 0-for-3 at the plate. She entered the game ranked second in the nation in batting average with a .679 mark.
"Playing in this tournament helps us. It teaches us the margin of error to compete with really good teams. We have flashes of it, but it's up to us to get beyond the flashes and be good at it on a more consistent basis," Rankin said. "Tomorrow is a new day and another opportunity for us to compete and elevate our game."
Alcorn and SLU will square off again tomorrow with a 12:30 p.m. first pitch. The Lady Braves will close out the tournament at 5:30 p.m. versus Mississippi State in a nationally televised game on the
SEC Network+/Watch ESPN.
#FearTheBrave
