By T. Scott Boatright
GULFPORT, Miss. — A late rally attempt by the Grambling State Lady Tigers fell short Wednesday as they were defeated by Alcorn State 8-2 in an elimination round of the 2021 Southwestern Athletic Conference Softball Tournament at the Gulfport Sportsplex.
After the Lady Braves went up 3-0 with a trio of third-inning runs, GSU had the chance to counter in the bottom of fourth after putting a runner in scoring position with two outs, but pop fly to second base to ended the chance with a Lady Tiger baserunner stranded on third.
In the top of the fifth, Grambling’s Payton Shells took the circle in relief of Sherrell Matthews (1-3), who was credited with the loss. Matthews allowed one earned run and a total of five hits while striking out one Alcorn batter.
Alcorn State took control in top of the sixth inning by adding four insurance runs, including a base-clearing three-RBI triple.
Grambling countered in the bottom half of the stanza after a Cameron Ellis single advanced her to third base on an ASU throwing error. GSU’s Anaiya Fultz’s RBI bunt scored Ellis, but the Lady Tigers could only manage one more run to cut the Lady Braves’ advantage to the final score of 8-2.
GSU ended the season 13-18 overall and 10-8 in SWAC play, and with 10 conference victories and its first trip to the SWAC tourney since 2015.
