ITTA BENA, MS – It had the makings of an exciting come-from-behind victory.
 
The Alabama State softball team received a dominant relief pitching performance by freshman Chelsea King, the fielding held together for eight straight scoreless innings and Brittney Wilson provided a clutch RBI single to tie it at two in the seventh inning.
 
In the end, it was Mississippi Valley State who pulled out a 3-2 conference win in nine innings on a pair of infield singles and some heads up base running on Friday night at the MVSU Softball Complex.    
     
The Lady Hornets (11-27 overall, 5-4 SWAC) rallied back to make things interesting when it scratched a run in the third inning off a Diauna Nelson single, a Wilson double and a RBI groundout by Laura Aguilar. 
 
The score remained 2-1 until the seventh as both the Devilettes' freshman starting pitcher Haley Young and the Lady Hornets' King matched zeroes over several innings and became enthralled into a classic pitchers' duel. 
 
King came on in relief and threw eight and two thirds innings while striking out five.  
 
She spinned eight straight scoreless innings before allowing the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on an infield single.   
 
She allowed one run on eight hits and walked just one on 120 pitches. 
 
Young pitched nine innings and allowed two runs on six hits on 142 pitches. 
 
She struck out six and walked two for the Devilettes (10-27 overall, 5-4 SWAC).
 
ASU rallied back in the top of the seventh inning when Kendall Core drew a walk to start. 
 
Aleesa Yanez moved over pinch runner Chelsea Rivera to second base on a sacrifice bunt that stalled directly in front of the plate. 
 
After Nelson moved Rivera to third on a grounder to first, Wilson smacked a single past Valley's third baseman to knot the score at 2-2. 
 
The teams will meet for a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. 
 
Live stats can be followed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/alasu/softball/
 
Tweets will be made throughout the game @ASUBUZZ. 
 
#GOHORNETS#