BIRMINGHAM – The Alabama State softball team had the tying run standing 60 feet away from home plate and the go-ahead run at first base before nearly completing a comeback in falling 6-5 to Houston Baptist in the late game on the first day of the Samford Tournament.
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Earlier in the day, the Lady Hornets lost 10-4 to host Samford.Â
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In the Houston Baptist game, the Lady Hornets began the comeback trail when
Carly Evans hit a two-run double to right-center field that scored
Laura Aguilar and
Jenna Mae Thorne in the third inning.Â
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Thorne followed in her next at-bat with a RBI double in the fourth. Â
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With ASU down 6-3 entering the top of the seventh, Evans blasted her third home run of the season—a two-run shot—that also scored
Laura Aguilar to bring the Lady Hornets within 6-5.Â
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Alabama State (3-8) fought to the end.Â
Kendall Core was hit by a pitch and
Aleesa Yanez singled to set up runners on the corners before a fly out to center field ended it.Â
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Thorne batted 3-for-3 with two doubles and a RBI. Evans was 2-for-3 with four RBI.Â
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In the Samford game, ASU took an early 2-1 lead behind an
Alexis Johnson RBI double that drove in Aguilar and the first home run of the season by Yanez.Â
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The Lady Bulldogs (10-2) took the lead for good on Megan Dowdy's two-run triple to give them a 3-2 lead at the end of the second inning and added three more runs in both the third and fourth.Â
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ASU cut into the lead on a RBI single by
Valerie Centeno that plated Thorne in the fourth and then added another run on a Core RBI double.Â
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Centeno finished 2-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and a RBI.Â
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The Lady Hornets stole a season-high three bases in the game with
Tacresha Favors and Johnson also swiping a bag.Â
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Dowdy batted 4-for-5 with four RBI while Abby Sweeney and Caroline Seay had three hits apiece for Samford.Â
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Alabama State will next play Valparaiso at 9 a.m. followed by another game with Houston Baptist at 3:45 p.m.
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To follow live stats of the game, go to
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=81973 for the Valparaiso game.
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For the Houston Baptist game, go to
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=81975.
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