MEMPHIS, Tenn. – An eight-game winning-streak came to a close Tuesday as the Alcorn State University softball program dropped a doubleheader to Memphis 13-2 and 12-0 in five innings at the Tigers Softball Complex.
It was a promising start for Alcorn (10-16) after its first six batters of the day all reached base safely. The Lady Braves led 2-0 and had the bases loaded with no outs when Memphis (19-17) got out of the inning without any further damage, and answered with 10 runs in the bottom half to catapult ahead.
Alcorn could never get the momentum back.
"Today, we just got beat by a better team. Memphis hit and pitched extremely well today. We had some opportunities on some infield hits that we should have made those putouts and we didn't. That created some extra at-bats for them and they put up some crooked numbers on the scoreboard," said Alcorn head coach
Josef Rankin.
The Lady Braves registered three hits in the game from junior
Simone McKinney, junior
Brittney Triplett and freshman
Brooke Roach. Triplett also drew a walk as she reached base safely twice.
In game two, Karli Perque threw a no-hitter for the Tigers. Senior
Victoria Tyler walked twice and McKinney once. McKinney extended her on-base streak to 12 games.
Back to game one, reigning SWAC Pitcher of the Week winner senior
Paige Taylor got the start. She fell victim to an untimely fielding error early in the inning which opened the door, and of her 10 runs allowed, only three were earned. Junior
Ambria Dorsey threw the final 3.1 frames.
Alcorn's runs came on back-to-back fielder's choice plays with the bases loaded. The first came on an error, and the second on an RBI by sophomore
Malea Dickerson. The inning had started with hits by McKinney and Triplett, and Tyler was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Memphis was led by Baylee Smith who went a combined 5-for-6 over the two games with six runs scored and three RBIs. Regan Hadley homered twice in game two for five RBIs.
"We have to embrace competing against really good teams. Failure in one at-bat or one play or pitch can't take my energy. We must learn to move on to the next play or pitch and just compete your tail off. Embrace it. This should be what we signed up for. We should want to face that pitcher that spins it well or those hitters that are tough outs. We can't back down from it. That's a mentality we have to embrace as a whole and I stress as a whole. That's the takeaway to get us better and that's what we will continue to work on for the entire program. It's about where you want to go," Rankin said.
The eight-game winning streak was Alcorn's longest since 1997.
Alcorn will be off from competition until Friday, April. 12 at 3 p.m. when it hosts Jackson State. The Lady Braves will hold Senior Day on Saturday, April 13 and honor Taylor and Tyler.
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