LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University softball program took both games of Saturday's doubleheader by the same score of 4-2 before dropping the finale 6-1, surpassing Alabama State in the standings during the process.
The Lady Braves (10-16, 8-7 SWAC) leaned heavily on its pitching and defense to carry the load against the Lady Hornets, flashing the leather all series long while holding ASU to just six runs in the first 20 innings played before a seventh-inning outburst in game three scored four.
Despite losing game three and seeing its five game winning streak snapped, Alcorn seems to peaking as the season draws to a close with wins in seven of the team's last nine ballgames.
Amari Ramsey moved up the totem pole to eighth in career hits over the weekend with 122 plus entered the career triples leaderboard for the first time, cracking the seventh slot with her seventh three-bagger on "The Reservation". Ramsey went 3-for-9 with a triple and two RBIs on the weekend.
Ambria Dorsey won her 18th game in Purple and Gold during her 24th career complete game in game one, striking out five Lady Hornets while allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits for an ERA of 1.29 and a batting average against at .200. Dorsey also climbed to fifth in innings pitched for her Lady Brave tenure as the workhorse has tossed 355.2 during her five seasons.
Marsha Hunt had the best batting average among Coach Rankin's bunch in the series, hitting .444 with four hits, two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI.
Ashley Arnold was the primary run producer for Alcorn, driving in four baserunners (44.4% of all runs scored by the Lady Braves) plus a double and a free pass.
Brenn Ursin picked up the victory in game two to seal the series win, going the full seven innings with four Ks, no walks and only a single earned run allowed.
Alabama State (15-27, 10-8 SWAC) struggled at the dish, averaging just under seven hits a game and scoring a combined six run through three games heading into the final frame on Sunday before a four-run inning in the series finale broke that game open.
Madison Myers stifled the Lady Braves hitters to salvage a win for the Black and Gold on Sunday, surrendering only two hits and one run while fanning three as Alcorn hit just .087 against her during a 6-1 Lady Hornets win.
Jamaica Flowers only had one hit over six at-bats but still led ASU in RBIs (3), contributing two on an RBI double in the finale plus a sacrifice fly in the opener.
Arianna Atchley led the squad with four hits, two stolen bases and two runs scored while three different players (Alex Massie, Jaeda Gardner and Flowers) had extra-base hits, all doubles.
Game 1 | W, 4-2
Alabama State got on the board first to kickoff the weekend via RBI singles from Destinee Dixon and Flower to take a 2-0 advantage in the second.
That would be all the scoring that ASU would get for the rest of the contest as Dorsey shut them down to the tune of two hits and four walks over the final five frames.
Alcorn did not have its best offensive game of the year with five hits and just four runs but it did not matter much with Dorsey dealing.
Arnold got the Purple and Gold on the board in the second with a hot shot RBI double to left field.
The fourth inning was kind to the ladies from Lorman as
Kiri Parker coaxed a base loaded walk to tie the score, Arnold came through clutch again with an RBI single to center to put the Lady Braves ahead and
Brittney Triplett lofted a sacrifice fly to tack on an insurance run to end the scoring for the afternoon, resulting in a 4-2 Alcorn win.
Game 2 | W, 4-2
Game two saw
Marsha Hunt get Alcorn on the board first with a double which scored
Genise Wells in the bottom of the first.
The two starting pitchers;
Brenn Ursin for Alcorn, Vanessa Bradford for Alabama State; made for a lull in the action between innings two and four as neither side could put anything but zeros in the run column.
ASU woke up its bats enough to take a short-lived lead in the fifth with a two-spot but Ramsey put the Purple and Gold right back in front in the Lady Braves half of the frame with a pivotal two-RBI triple.
Arnold continued her clutch performance with yet another RBI single in the sixth as Alcorn completed the doubleheader sweep with identical 4-2 victories on Saturday afternoon.
Game 3 | L, 6-1
The third and final game saw its first pitch moved up a half hour to beat out the impending rain but the day belonged to Alabama State.
Arnold knocked in the club's lone run of the game with a bases loaded fielder's choice in the second.
ASU got two in fourth and four in the seventh (three unearned) while holding Alcorn to two hits and five walks throughout the matchup with the Lady Hornets salvaging the finale, 6-1.
Alabama State is ahead in the all-time series with a 65-27 lead.
If Alcorn takes at least two of three from Mississippi Valley in Itta Bena on Wednesday and Thursday, they will secure the SWAC Eastern Division's number two seed for the conference tournament in Gulfport, Mississippi.
#FearTheBrave
