MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama State University Lady Hornets used three pitchers to hold off Southern University 8-7 and advance to the championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament later today.
Vanessa Bradford started the contest for the Lady Hornets, logging 3.1 innings and gave up just three runs (all earned), while walking; she then gave way to
Justine Jean (8-12) who went 2.2 innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits.
Charlene Castro came on in the seventh for the Lady Hornets to record her third save, coming in with the bases loaded and allowing just one walk before ending the contest. The sophomore came on and promptly threw out a potential run at the plate, before catching a line drive on the next pitch for the second out. After Kiara Suttles looked to have struck out to end the game, she was hit by the next pitch to get the Alabama State lead down to 8-7. On her very next pitch, Tiara Scott grounded the ball over the bag at third but into the glove of
Kendall Core for the final out.
Alabama State (20-32) put six on the board in the first inning against Southern to build their lead. After a lead-off walk to
Laura Aguilar,
Kaylee Davis pushed her to second with a sacrifice bunt; before
Valerie Centeno recorded her eighth triple – placing her third in the country – to drive in the game's first run. Core drove in Centeno with a single up the middle to push the lead to 2-0, before she scored on a
Perry Hindi double to push the lead to 3-0.
Alexia Boggess kept the inning alive with a two-out walk, scoring on a single by
Brittney Wilson and a pair of throwing errors to push the lead 5-0; before
Taylor Rosser reached on an infield single to drive in the sixth run of the inning.
After Southern scored three in the top of the fourth, the Lady Hornets added a pair of their own after Davis singled and stole second; scoring on a double by Centeno to push the lead to 7-3. Alabama State scored their final run of the game when Centeno scored on an RBI groundout by Core.
Centeno finished the day 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of runs batted in, finishing just a home run short of the cycle. Davis, Core and Rosser each picked up a pair of hits in the win.
Alabama State faces Texas Southern for the conference championship at 2 pm on the SWAC Digital Network, with the Lady Hornets having to defeat Texas Southern twice in order to win their second consecutive conference title.
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