MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner and Coastal Georgia both entered this afternoon's Southern States Athletic Conference showdown at Wynn Field in serious need of league wins. With 10 of the 11 SSAC clubs making it to the conference tournament this year, a handful of teams are battling to stay out of the lower end of the spectrum. The Lady Eagles' split with Brewton-Parker yesterday might have temporarily muddied the waters, but today's 3-1 and 3-2 victories over the Mariners created some breathing room in the standings.

Emily Byrd's RBI triple to right-center field in the second inning of Game 1 put Faulkner on the board and she later scored on an Amanda Seales single to give the home team a 2-0 lead.

The Mariners (19-17/3-13 SSAC) scored on a base hit in the sixth, but Holli Brooks delivered an RBI knock that same inning to cap Faulkner's scoring efforts.

Coastal Georgia generated a run on an infield error with the bases loaded on its first trip to the plate in the second ball game, but Faulkner managed to bail itself out of the jam before further damage could be done.

Jessica Butterworth then delivered an impressive two-RBI double off the wall in left field in the third inning to give Faulkner the 2-1 lead.

Hannah Qualls punched a triple to right filed to get things going in the fourth and was later ushered home on a Hannahlee Harris single to left field.

Coastal Georgia did capitalize on a bases-loaded, one-out scenario on a tag-and go from third at the end of a short pop up just beyond first base, but again, the birds pulled of the rut before things got out of hand.

Emma Cornell (7-3) scattered seven hits over as many innings and gave up one earned run in the opening win.

Hayden Strickland (5-6) allowed eight hits and an earned run over 4 1/3 innings of work in the game two decision. 

Caitlin Perry allowed just a single hit in the final 2 2/3 innings from the circle.

Brooks finished the day 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run and Butterworth was 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a run.

Harris had a pair of hits, dove in a run and scored.

Qualls was 1-for-2 in the second game and logged an RBI.

The team honored it's seven seniors in a special ceremony prior to play. (From left in photo) Brooks, Butterworth, Makenzie Anthony, Qualls, Sophie Slemp and Seales were each recognized for their outstanding contributions to the program and the university as a whole in their time at Faulkner. Madison DeWeese, a former player and current student assistant was also honored.

The Lady Eagles improved to 18-16 overall and catapulted themselves, at least temporarily, into seventh place in the SSAC standings after moving to 6-8 in the league. Faulkner will take Sunday to recover before returning to action at Wynn Field Monday evening. The doubleheader against Judson College (Ala.) Is slated for 4 p.m.