Georgia State softball eliminated from Sun Belt Tournament

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Ivie Drake managed GSU’s only hit and Lauren Coleman drove in a run as Georgia State was defeated by No. 23 South Alabama 3-1 Friday night, eliminating the Panthers in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.

“Tough loss but my hat is off to Farish Beard and South Alabama they played a great game,” head coach Roger Kincaid said. “We had our opportunities, we had the bases loaded in the sixth inning and I thought we were going to come up big, we just didn’t get it done. Sometimes you win those kind of games and sometimes you lose.”

GSU now waits to see if it has done enough to receive an at-large bid to a NCAA tournament regional. The 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Championship bracket will be revealed live on ESPNU on Sunday, May 10 at 10 p.m.

“I am proud of where we are at and where we finished. We would like to be playing in the championship gametomorrow, but best of luck to UL Lafayette and South Alabama. We had a good season and are hopefully going to get in the NCAA tournament. I think we have done enough, and I hope the committee agrees. I am really proud of this team and I feel they deserve to go to the postseason. I hope they are rewarded with a bid.”

Georgia State finished the regular season 38-22 and blasted a single-season school record 102 home runs. That total is the second highest in Sun Belt history behind only UL Lafayette’s 106 homers this season.

South Alabama took a 1-0 lead in the first on Chloe Rathburn’s RBI single. After a scoreless second, Georgia State put runners on the corners in the third but were unable to push any runners across. The Jaguars then doubled their lead in the fourth on Emily Messer’s RBI triple.

After South Alabama added a third run in the fifth, Georgia State finally got on the board with a single run in the top of the sixth. A hit by pitch and an error but two on for Drake who singled to load the bases and break up Jaguar starter Farish Beard’s no-hitter.

Anderson then scored on Coleman’s sacrifice fly to cut the South Alabama lead to 3-1. A walk by Megan Litumbe loaded the bases again but a pop-up ended the threat. GSU then went down in order in the seventh to end the game and give the Jaguars the victory.