One Mississippi: Softball drops series to Alcorn State

With another chance to take control of the SWAC, Southern Softball headed into Alcorn State for a three-game series Friday and Saturday. After dropping their home series against Texas Southern in their previous outing, the Jag’s looked to regain their footing in the West division. Alcorn was also coming off a losing series to Southeastern. With both teams coming off losses, this series meant more for both sides.
The first game of Friday’s doubleheader was a bit of a slow burn for both teams as they went scoreless for the first three innings. Alcorn was the first team on the board with an RBI single at the bottom of the fourth inning. Southern was then able to get it going offensively at the top of the fifth inning when Freshman infielder Alissa Castaneda hit a single into center field, which brought home the Jag’s opening run. The sixth inning saw both teams go scoreless again, which led to a decisive seventh inning. At the top of the seventh inning, the Jags closed the game with two clutch runs. The first run came from an RBI double from freshman pitcher Julia York and the second and closing score came from Junior infielder Londyn Lau via an RBI single. The Jag’s held on to that lead to win the first game of the doubleheader 3-1.
The second game brought more action to the ballpark in Lorman. Out of the gate, the Jags scored their first run at the top of the first inning when Redshirt senior Mariyah Sandoval hit an RBI single to center field that got the jags on the board. Redshirt senior shortstop Roxsanna Segura followed up that run at the top of the second inning with an RBI double to center field, which brought home the Jag’s second run of the game, making the score 2-0. Alcorn then struck back at the bottom of the second inning with a score making the game 2-1 heading into the third inning. Alcorn then scored three uncontested runs from the third through the fourth inning seizing the lead 5-2. The Jags then responded with four uncontested runs at the top of the fifth inning. The first two runs of the four came from an RBI double courtesy of Freshman center infielder Alana Mark. After an explosive fifth inning for the Jags, they took the lead 6-5 with just two innings remaining. The Jags did their best to hold on but stumbled in the seventh inning, giving up two additional runs to Alcorn, giving them the win 7-6.
The last game of the series saw the Jags go down quietly to Alcorn, losing 0-7. The Jags seemingly ran out of gas in this game and lost the series 2-1. This game leaves the Jags in third place in the SWAC West division at 7-5 in conference play. Their next opponent will be Prarie View, who is just one spot above the Jags in the division, with both teams being only one game apart.