HOUSTON – South Dakota State opened its stay at the Scrap Yard College Softball Classic with a 6-0 setback to UAB on Friday morning, but bounced back to defeat Louisiana Monroe 8-5 in its second contest of the day.
The Jackrabbits are now 3-3 on the season.
• UAB 6, SDSU 0
Grace Glanzer (2-1) started and threw five complete innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks. She struck out three before Taylor Compton entered in relief and tossed the final two frames, tallying two strikeouts without allowing a baserunner.
Cylie Halvorson was 2-for-3 on the day, while Peyton Daugherty, Chiara Bassi, Kelsey Lenox and Caelyn Christiancy also tallied hits.
A solo home run in the first by Faith Hegh gave UAB the lead, and that score held until the later innings.
SDSU threatened with runners in scoring position during the second, third and fourth innings, but were unable to break through against the Blazer defense.
UAB struck for five runs behind a trio of extra base hits in the bottom of the fourth to stretch its lead to 6-0, where it stayed the rest of the way.
The Blazers’ Amy Woodham tossed a six-hit shutout, striking out six batters without issuing a free pass.
Dylinn Stancil (two RBIs) and Ashton Clem (one) both finished 2-for-3.
• SDSU 8, Louisiana Monroe 5
Kendra Conard (1-2) threw 6 1/3 innings in her first victory of the season, allowing five runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts. Taylor Compton recorded the final two outs in relief to help the Jacks secure the win.
Christiancy was 2-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in. Allison Yoder racked up a two-run home run and a triple, and Lindsey Culver went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
Mia Elliott added an RBI double for the Jacks and drew one of three walks for the SDSU offense.
Scoreless through two innings, ULM struck first with a bases-loaded walk in the top of the third, then added two more on a two-out RBI single later in the inning.
Down 3-0 at that point, SDSU looked for a quick answer behind Yoder's one-out triple in the bottom of the inning, but couldn't scratch the run across.
The Jacks drew even in the next inning, however, rallying to a 3-3 tie behind a pair of extra base hits. Elliott gave State its first run of the frame with an RBI double to center field, bringing Bassi (who walked earlier in the inning) around to score. Though a Jackrabbit was caught in a rundown on that play for the second out, Christiancy (RBI single) and Culver (RBI triple) kept the offense moving with two-out hits.
State blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth, adding five more runs to pull away for good. Halvorson was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and after a sacrifice bunt moved her to second, Elliot was intentionally walked to put two runners on.
Christiancy followed with her second hit of the afternoon, plating both runners on a double to right center before she moved to the third on the throw. Culver followed with an RBI single to left, and after stealing second came around to score when Yoder launched a two-run shot to center field, making it 8-3 in SDSU's favor.
ULM got two back in the seventh behind a bases-loaded sacrifice fly and a two-out single, but would come no closer as the Jackrabbits closed out the comeback victory.
Notes
The Jackrabbits are 0-1 all-time against UAB and 1-3 all-time against Louisiana Monroe. ... Cylie Halvorson continued her hot start to the 2020 season and now has three multi-hit games through six contests. ... Allison Yoder now has two home runs on the season. ... Allison Yoder, Caelyn Christiancy and Lindsey Culver all tallied their first multi-RBI games of the season against ULM.
Up Next
South Dakota State continues its stay at the Scrap Yard College Softball Classic with two more games today. The Jackrabbitss play Texas A&M - Corpus Christi at 11:30 a.m., then wrap up the day against McNeese State at 4:30 p.m.
