MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Alabama State University split a pair of home games Sunday on the final day of the Black and Gold Tournament, finishing the weekend with three wins.
Alabama State (4-4) opened the day with a 7-2 victory over Akron, using a five-run sixth inning to pull ahead and defeat the Zips.
The Lady Hornets got on the board early following a
Casey Durham leadoff triple, before she scored on a
Kristin Gunter sacrifice fly to give Alabama State a 1-0 in the first inning. The score stayed there until the third when
Taylor Rosser scored on a Durham single to left, moments after stealing second, to give Alabama State a 2-0 lead.
Amira James started off the sixth inning with her first home run of the season, this one of the inside the park variety, as she laced a ball to right for the 3-0 lead. The inning continued when Rosser tripled home Aimee Felicies and
Kaitlyn Kilner to push the lead to 5-0. They added two more runs on back-to-back doubles by Durham and Gunter for the seven-run lead.
Durham finished game one perfect at the plate, finishing 4-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of runs batted in. Rosser finished with a pair of hits and RBI in the win, while
Justine Jean picked up the win. The sophomore went six innings and allowed one run off of four hits and three strikeouts.
In the finale, Holy Cross was able to push across a pair of runs in the eighth inning for a 4-2 victory over Alabama in extra innings.
Holy Cross scored a pair of runs in the first inning, and the score stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh. The Lady Hornets were down to their last strike when
Marina Clark tripled to right to score James to trim the deficit to 2-1. Rosser came up in a pinch hit role and delivered as she beat out a ball that mishandled by the Holy Cross pitcher to tie the game at 2-all and send the game to extra innings.
Vanessa Bradford did not factor into the decision, as she went 6.1 innings and allowed two runs – both unearned – off of four hits. She also ended the day with seven strikeouts. Skylar Sullivan was the hard-luck loser, as she went 1.2 innings and allowed two runs off of one hit.
Alabama State returns to action Wednesday night on the road as they face Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.
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