South Alabama softball defeats Texas State 3-2 to win Sun Belt Conference Championship

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The South Alabama softball team defeated Texas State 3-2 to win the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The 5^th seeded Jags advanced to the championship game by defeating number 4 seed Southern Miss 13-0 on Thursday before upsetting the number 1 seed ULM Warhawks 3-1 in Friday’s semifinal. After an extended weather delay, the championship game finally got underway at 8:05. Both teams remained tied at 0 through the first three innings until South Alabama’s Gracie Dees put her team on the board with an RBI single in the top of the 4^th. Later in the inning, freshman infielder Lillie Stagner hit a two-run home run to make it a 3-0 lead.

The Bobcats would add an RBI single in the 5^th inning and a home run in the 7^th to make it 3-2, but with two outs, Texas State’s Karmyn Bass grounded out to shortstop to end the game. Ryley Harrison finished with eight strikeouts in four innings as the Jags win their first Sun Belt Conference Championship since 2015.

The Jags, led by head coach Becky Clark receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The bracket will be revealed tomorrow night at 6:00.