UNA blanks Tuskegee 5-0 in NCAA softball regional
FLORENCE, Ala. (goldentigersports.com) — For the second consecutive year, the Tuskegee University Lady Golden Tigers will have to battle out of the elimination bracket in the NCAA Division South 1 Region, falling to fourth-ranked and top-seeded University of North Alabama 5-0 at the UNA Softball Complex Thursday evening.
North Alabama (50-5) used a mix of power and pitching to defeat Tuskegee (24-30) for the second time this season. The Lions got a two-run homerun from Peyton DeLong to hand Hillary Carpenter (24-3) a 3-0 through two innings.
After allowing a run in the first inning via an error and the homerun, Tuskegee had a chance to get on the board in the third inning. After Jasmine Howard was hit by a pitch, she advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Haley Plato and to third on the first hit of the game for Tuskegee – off the bat of Sharde Thomas. However, Carpenter got out of the inning forcing a strikeout and groundout.
North Alabama added a run in the fourth; Tuskegee had another chance in the bottom half of the frame. Cari Driver led off the inning being hit by a pitch, and advanced to second when Haley Plato was hit by a pitch with one out. However, Carpenter again got out of the inning with a pair of groundouts.
The Lady Golden Tigers got another runner in scoring position in the seventh, but were unable to score.
Thomas and Roneshia Rudolph each got a hit in the game for Tuskegee off of Carpenter who struck out eight Lady Golden Tigers. Kaylin Finch (11-12) suffered the loss in a complete game effort. The freshman gave up five runs – four earned – off of eight hits, while striking out one.
Tuskegee returns to action in an elimination game against fourth-seeded Saint Leo Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm at the UNA Softball Complex.
