MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Maggie Tipton's 10th-inning walk-off single lifted Faulkner (35–8, 12-6 SSAC) to a 1-0 win against No. 7 Mobile (33-8, 16-4 SSAC) in this afternoon's Southern States Athletic Conference series opener here at Wynn Field, but late-game resilience gave the Rams the 6-4 victory in nine innings in the nightcap.
Game 1 was dominated by a pitching dual between the Rams' Karley Sanders and Faulkner's Caitlin Perry.
Sanders tallied 14 strikeouts while allowing just three hits in the narrow loss. Sanders would find redemption in Game 2, however.
Perry (16-3), meanwhile, smoked 12 batters and surrendered five hits over 10 innings in the shutout.
Tipton accounted for two of the three Lady Eagle hits in Game 1.
A Caity Jo Lee RBI doubled followed immediately by an Abbigail Barron two-run homer put Faulkner in a 3-0 advantage in the third inning of the second contest and the score remained steady until what could have been the final at-bat of the day.
Mobile battled its way back in the do-or-die seventh with three bases-loaded singles that pushed the contest into a dead heat.
Ram ace Sanders returned in the bottom of the frame to face the meat of the Lady Eagle lineup and performed brilliantly, forcing yet another extended-inning affair.
Mobile continued to find fire in the ninth as an infield error and two infield singles catapulted the visitors back into a bases-loaded advantage. A hit batter ushered in the go-ahead run, but it was the ensuing two-RBI single to shallow center from Taylor Houck that proved the critical blow.
Baron did trim the deficit with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, but the additional scores needed remained elusive as Faulkner left a pair of runners on base.
Sanders added three more strikeouts to her daily total while allowing three hits over as many innings in the win.
Emma Cornell (14-4) gave up six earned runs on 10 hits scattered over nine innings while fanning eight batters in the loss.
Barron, Brown and Hannahlee Harris were all 2-for-5 in the second event. Barron knocked in three runs and scored, while Brown and Harris each logged a run.
Faulkner will next host No. 12 William Carey in an SSAC doubleheader beginning tomorrow at noon. The Lady Eagles will celebrate senior day approximately 15 minutes before the opening pitch.
