MOBILE, Ala. - No. 25 Faulkner (18-9, 4-4 SSAC) took its lumps early and fell in a pair of 7-1 results to No. 18 Mobile (21-8, 8-2 SSAC) on Friday afternoon at UM Softball Field.
Game One
Facing defending NAIA Pitcher of the Week Avery Harrell, Faulkner got the day started on the right foot as Chloe Davidson led off with a double to center. Addyson Jarman took a beanball and Sarah Williams singled to load the bases before Madelyn Becker got her team on the board with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to score Davidson. That would be all the Faulkner highlights for the first game of the series, as Kensley Wesley fouled out to the second baseman and the latter threw home to get Jarman out for the inning-ending double play. The visitors would only get two more runners on the rest of the game off a Davidson single and another Becker hit-by-pitch.
A leadoff bunt single for Mobile came home to roost after a wild pitch, a passed ball and three walks. A pair of RBI singles and a bases-loaded walk put the Rams ahead 4-1 heading into the second frame. Another walk to open the bottom of the second came home on an RBI double. Another disastrous sequence came in the fifth frame as a leadoff single came home after three straight walks to push her home for a 6-1 lead. The last run came one inning later with a leadoff single that came home following an error and two sac bunts. Harrell earned her 10th win of the season in a complete game with just three hits allowed while striking out two.
Game Two
Mobile provided first-inning offense again after another double play ended the Lady Eagles' half, stranding Davidson who led off with a walk. The Rams promptly loaded the bases with a leadoff single, an error and a walk, scoring two runners with a groundout and a second single to left. The bats were quiet until the bottom of the third, when two singles and a defensive miscue got the bases juiced, and the leadoff hitter Lucy Spisto put UM up 3-0 on a passed ball. The Eagle defense prevented further damage with a fielder's choice, sac bunt and groundout, but the deficit ended Reece Patterson's day for just her second loss of the season in eight decisions.
After Anna Catherine Segrest walked, Williams and Becker tallied the only two Faulkner hits in the nightcap with singles to left, with Becker's scoring Segrest. However, with Abrianna Davis in the circle and with two gone in the bottom half of the fourth, Daryelin Rivas singled and Spisto reached on catcher's interference. Diana Arcay singled Rivas home to get the run back and move Spisto to third before Spisto put her team up 5-1 on a double steal. The Rams left the bases loaded in each of the last two innings but would add two more runs with two outs on the board in the sixth, with three straight singles plating one and the last run scoring via error.
Katelynn Kempton registered another complete game for Mobile, striking out two while scattering just two hits and three walks. Patterson and Davis surrendered 12 hits with seven runs, but just one earned, to go with a walk and a strikeout apiece.
Faulkner heads to Hattiesburg for another ranked SSAC series against No. 21 William Carey.
