GULFPORT, Miss. | The Grambling State Lady Tigers fell behind early, then made a late rally, but it wasn't enough as Alcorn defeated Grambling 8-2 in the elimination round of the 2021 Southwestern Athletic Conference Softball Tournament at the Gulfport Sportsplex. Grambling ends the season with 10 conference victories and its first trip to the SWAC tourney since 2015.
The early portion of the contest proved to be a defensive battle as both sides remained scoreless through two innings. However, the Lady Braves got on board first with three runs scored in the third inning.
The Lady Tigers had a golden chance to answer back in the bottom half of the fourth inning with a runner in scoring position with two outs, but GSU's
Kayla Robinson popped up to second base to end the rally while leaving teammate
Tytianna Robinson stranded on third.
In the top of the fifth,
Payton Shells came in relief of
Sherrell Matthews (1-3), who was credited with the loss. Matthews allowed just one earned run and a total of five hits while striking out one Alcorn batter.
The Lady Braves pulled away in the top half of the sixth inning by adding four insurance runs, including a base-clearing 3-RBI triple. Grambling responded in timely fashion in the bottom stanza when
Cameron Ellis's single resulted in her landing on third base due to an Alcorn outfield error. Fellow Lady Tiger Anaiya Fultz laid down an RBI-bunt that brought home Ellis to put GSU on the board. The Lady Tigers generated one more run before the end of the inning when Robinson took advantage of a throwing error from Alcorn's shortstop and scampered home, bringing the score to 8-2.
Antiya Randle advanced to third base on the same play, but during the next at-bat, Robinson was caught stealing second base to end the inning.
GSU ends the season 13-18 overall and 10-8 in SWAC play.
Follow Grambling State Athletics
For complete coverage of Grambling State athletics, follow the Tigers on social media at @GSU_Tigers (Twitter), /gramblingstateathletics (Facebook), @gramblingathletics (Instagram) or visit the official home of Grambling State Athletics at gsutigers.com. You may also download our new Grambling athletics mobile app by clicking here for IOS (Apple) devices, or by clicking here for Android devices.
