HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Jackson State University Lady Tigers softball team defeated Alabama A&M University 9-7 on Sunday to win the three-game series 2-to-1.
On Saturday, the Lady Tigers won the nightcap contest 6-1 after falling to the Lady Bulldogs 6-5 in the series opener.
Game 1: AAMU 6, JSU 5 (8 innings)
The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings of play but then saw the home-standing AAMU Lady Bulldogs outscore them 4-1 over the next four innings to knot the score at 5-5, sending the game into extra innings.
In the decisive eighth inning, it was a JSU throwing error that allowed the Lady Bulldogs to score their winning run.
JSU's Alexis Arredondo (2-for-4, solo HR) and Isis Taylor (2-for-4) were the team's leaders on offense. Pitcher Takiya Hill also went 2-for-3 batting while allowing four hits and two earned runs in five complete innings on the mound.
Game 2: JSU 6, AAMU 1
The Lady Tigers roared back with vengeance in Game 2 on Saturday, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead in the first quarter before blitzing AAMU with four runs in the top of the fourth to take a commanding 5-1 lead in the ballgame. Monica Serrano, Hill, Mari Stephens and Lauren Stewart all drove in runs in the inning, with Stewart collecting her first triple of the season.
Later, in the top of the sixth inning, Stewart singled in Samiyyah Huckabee to make the score 6-1 JSU.
Stewart was the star of the game on offense, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Serrano went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Isabel Gusman went 2-for-4. Kuppenbender went the distance in collecting her fifth victory of the season.
Game 3: JSU 9, AAMU 7 (9 innings)
Sunday's rubber match between JSU and AAMU was a game of spurts with the Lady Tigers taking a 6-3 lead into the sixth inning. In that inning, JSU upped its lead to 7-3 when a Stephens' ground-out scored Huckabee, but the Lady Bulldogs stormed back to tied the score at 7-all with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Jackson State secured the victory in the top of the ninth inning, thanks to a Jalia Hubbard home run over the left center wall that scored two runs, making the final score 9-7 JSU.
Stewart, Serrano and Huckabee all had multiple hits in the game, Stewart going 2-for-4, Serrano 2-for-2 and Huckabee 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Hubbard went 1-for-3, but that one hit proved to be the game-winner for the visiting Lady Tigers.
Hill secured the Game 3 victory, winning her fourth game of the season on the mound.
The Lady Tigers, 13-11 overall and 4-2 in the SWAC, will travel to Alabama again next weekend, this time facing the Alabama State Lady Hornets in a three-game series starting at 3 p.m. on Friday.
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