It's been 18 days since their last home game, but the Alabama State softball team is back at the Barbara Williams Softball Complex to conclude the regular season with a flourish.

The Lady Hornets (12-28 overall, 6-5 SWAC) will close out with a seven-game home stand with an aim toward locking up a higher seed for the SWAC Tournament come early May. 

Six of the seven games will be against SWAC opponents. 

It starts with a three-game series that is scheduled to begin Friday against Alabama A&M (14-19 overall, 5-5 SWAC) with a first pitch set for 6 p.m.

The series will continue Saturday with a doubleheader that begins at noon. 

Friday's game will involve special spring festivities as part of the Swarm and Sting Football Tour. 

New head football coach Brian Jenkins will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and the entire team will be on hand to meet and greet with fans and sign autographs on autograph cards from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on a closed off Fifth Street between the softball and baseball fields. 

The softball game and football tour events are both free and open to the public. 

Parking will be available at the football stadium parking lot.

The Lady Bulldogs are coming off three consecutive losses to SWAC East Divisional rival Jackson State (5-0, 9-4, and 6-3) last Saturday and Sunday.

However, A&M remains the best overall hitting team in the SWAC by collectively hitting .323. 

The team is led by sophomore catcher Taiya McInnes, who is hitting .408 (fifth in SWAC) with a .579 slugging percentage (ninth in SWAC) and a .511 on-base percentage (third in SWAC). 

Freshman third baseman Ariel Smith is also having a big season as she ranks among the conference leaders in several categories including batting average (.387), slugging percentage (.587), hits (36) and RBI (22). 

In the circle, senior Anisa Britt leads the staff with a 9-7 record with a 4.13 ERA. 

In 96.2 innings pitched, Britt has struck out 56 against 35 walks.
 
She has nine complete games with one shutout and has combined with a teammate for another shutout. 

The Lady Hornets are coming off losing two of three tight games at Mississippi Valley State last weekend (lost 3-2 in nine innings, won 9-7 and lost 7-5). 

Junior left fielder Jenna Mae Thorne remains one of the best hitters in conference play. 

Thorne is hitting .444 (16-for-36) with three doubles, a triple, seven walks, nine runs scored and seven RBI against SWAC opponents this season. 

In the circle, freshman Chelsea King went back-to-back on picking up the SWAC Pitcher of the Week honor. 

King holds the best ERA in the SWAC (1.51) to go along with 20 strikeouts and just six walks in 37 innings pitched. 

"Everybody in the SWAC is battling each other and trying to finish at the top of the conference," said ASU softball coach Chris Steiner-Wilcoxson.

"Every game should be a battle.  It's a very good learning experience to understand what we need to be able to do to win these games.  We've had walk off games and extra innings games.  So, you have to keep learning from your mistakes and keep moving forward."

Live stats will be available by clicking here:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/alasu/softball/
 
Tweets will be made throughout the game @ASUBUZZ. 
 
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