DECATUR, Ala. – One down for the Alabama State softball team.
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Jenna Mae Thorne clubbed a pair of game-changing doubles,
Chelsea King stayed calm and collected through four scoreless innings in the circle and
Alexis Johnson provided the exclamation point with a fence-damaging, two-run home run to close it out as the Lady Hornets rolled past Prairie View A&M 11-2 in six innings on the opening day of the SWAC Tournament at Wilson Morgan Park.Â
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Next, the Lady Hornets (18-31 overall) will take on Texas Southern on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. on field four.
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Save for a leadoff triple by Lady Panthers' second baseman and All-SWAC First Team selection Destinee Williams, ASU stayed in control throughout with a complete performance.
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Thorne's first double rocketed into left-center field and scored
Valerie Centeno to give ASU a 2-0 advantage in the first inning.Â
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In the following inning, Thorne repeated the feat with another double to left field and scored both
Brittney Wilson and
Laura Aguilar to push the lead to 4-0.Â
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Centeno added a RBI single to score Wilson in the third and Johnson knocked through a RBI double to plate
Carly Evans in the fourth.Â
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King (6-5) only allowed one additional hit after the leadoff triple, which was a lightly tapped ball down the third base line for an infield single.
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King struck out three and did not walk a batter on an economical 44 pitches.Â
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Johnson's home run traveled about five feet beyond the four-foot tall fence in left-center field.Â
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Both the left fielder and center fielder converged toward the fence and knocked it over while attempting to make the catch.Â
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The ball traveled approximately 225 feet.Â
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Johnson finished 3-for-4 with her eighth home run and 13
th double of the season to go along with three runs scored and three RBI.Â
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Thorne went 2-for-4 with two doubles, her 11
th and 12
th of the season, and three RBI.Â
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Laura Aguilar went 1-for-2 with a walk, her 26
th stolen base of the season and scored two runs.Â
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Live stats can be followed atÂ
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/swac/.
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Tweets will be made throughout the game @ASUBUZZ.Â
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#GOHORNETS#
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