IRONDALE, AL – Late inning drama suited the Alabama State softball team well Saturday afternoon as the Lady Hornets pulled out two thrilling wins against Savannah State in the Tiny Laster Classic at the Shea Brothers Softball Complex.
 
ASU (7-12) went into extra innings to take game one and followed it up with a winning hit in their last at bats in the bottom half of the seventh to extend their winning streak to three straight. 
 
Game one: Alabama State 4, Savannah State 3 (8 innings)
ASU pitcher Maddie Phelps and Tigers' starter Amanda Hallman engaged in a pitcher's duel with a 1-1 score into the eighth inning before the Lady Hornets broke through with a three-run spot in extra innings.
 
Freshman Charlene Castro homered to center field off the scoreboard and numerous players stepped up in extra innings for the Lady Hornets. 
 
In the eighth, Valerie Centeno was placed on second base with international tie-breaker rules in effect.
 
Jenna Mae Thorne laced a single and Kendall Core laid down a sac bunt RBI to score Centeno to give ASU a 2-1 lead.
 
Aleesa Yanez came through with a clutch at bat. 
 
After falling behind in the count 1-2, the senior catcher roped a RBI single up the middle to score Thorne and made it 3-1.
 
Carly Evans tacked another insurance run when the first baseman roped a ball in the hole between first and second base to reach on an infield single and scored Yanez. 
 
The Tigers created some noise in their home half of the inning with a pair of walks sandwiched around a couple of singles.
 
With ASU clinging to a 4-3 lead and runners on first and second with two outs, Core ended the game with a nice stop and step on third base to end it. 
 
Game two: Alabama State 9, Savannah State 8
It came down to the last at bats once again for the Lady Hornets as they rallied back twice before finally putting it away in their last at bats in the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
Thorne finished a 4-for-5 game two performance with the winning RBI single to left after connecting for her first career home run as a Lady Hornet earlier in the game.
 
Trailing 3-0 and again 8-6 , ASU stormed back by stacking 16 hits together. 
 
Alabama State began their first rally behind a two-run home run by Core and then took a 4-3 lead in the second on an Alexia Boggess RBI single and a fielder's choice RBI by Laura Aguilar. 
 
The Lady Hornets padded their lead with two runs in the fourth on a Centeno sac fly RBI and Thorne's solo home run.
 
It remained a 6-3 lead until the Tigers put up a five-run inning to take an 8-6 advantage. 
 
ASU pecked away at the lead with a run in the fifth on a sac fly RBI by Amira James and a RBI single by Castro in the sixth. 
 
Phelps (5-4) finished out the game and held SSU in check with two and a third scoreless innings pitched on just two hits. 
 
Aguilar, Yanez, Evans, and Boggess had two hits apiece for ASU.
 
The Tigers dropped to 6-13.
 
Up next
The Lady Hornets will conclude play in the Tiny Laster Classic Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against Montevallo. 
ASU defeated the Falcons 9-1 in six innings on Friday.
 
Live stats can be followed here: http://www.sidearmstats.com/alasu/softball/
 
In-game updates and pictures can be found on Twitter@ASUBUZZ.
 
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