Box Score
CLEVELAND, Miss. – Game three of the series between Delta State University and West Alabama was a marathon of a competition that featured twelve innings of softball. Delta State came up short in the last inning, falling to the Tigers 15-10 and dropping the conference opening series. The Lady Statesmen drop to 5-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play, while UWA improves to 7-6 on the year and 2-1 in league play.

A combined 25 runs, 39 hits, and 108 at-bats between the two squads outlined the hard-fought battle between the Green-and-White and the Tigers.

Kaitlin Moore got the long stretch of scoring started in the bottom of the first with a solo homerun to right field in the bottom of the first inning. West Alabama responded in a big way by taking the lead in the top of the third with UWA's Whitney Brown going yard with two outs, plating three Tiger runs to lead 3-1. In the bottom frame of the third, Delta State regained the lead. Taylor Holland got things started with a one-out single. Kaitlin Moore moved her to third with a double to deep left center. Adcock delivered with an RBI-single through the left side, scoring Holland. Adcock later stole second as a diversion to score Moore from third and advancing herself to third. Andrea Cutts hit a dribbler to the right side to score Adcock and take the 4-3 lead over West Alabama.

Delta State cooled down in the fourth but tallied another run in the fifth when Brook Cline singled to score Ashley Mrozinski.

The Tiger offense was silent for three innings until it came out with a rally in its last chance in the bottom of the seventh. Five straight hits from West Alabama, including back-to-back homeruns, and five runs put the lead back with UWA, 8-5.

The Lady Statesmen were faced with their last opportunity for victory in the bottom of the seventh but battled back to tie the game at eight runs apiece. An RBI single from Cline and an RBI double from Madison Zoeller put DSU within reach, 8-7. Kassidy Tally singled to score Zoeller, tying the game, and was inches away from scoring Genie Kulak, who was thrown out trying to reach home, recording the third out of the inning. With the score tied at 8-8, the first of several extra innings was enforced, DSU's third extra inning game of the season.

Neither team was able to plate runs in the eighth or ninth innings, keeping the score tied and initiating the international tiebreaker.

West Alabama took advantage of the runner placed at second base by tacking on another run in the top of the tenth, but Delta State was persistent and fought back to tie the game at 9-9 with Adcock hit a sacrifice fly to score Tally in the bottom frame of the tenth.

Both teams were quiet in the eleventh, but West Alabama took control of the game by plating six runs, all unearned, on four hits and one DSU error, taking the commanding 15-9 lead with one Delta State at-bat remaining. Kaitlin Moore hit a sacrifice fly to score Tally to tack on their final run and fall to the Tigers by a final of 15-10.

Five pitchers between the two teams made appearances in the matchup. Taylor Tucker pitched the bulk of the game for Delta State, giving up 12 runs, four earned, on 16 hits in 8.1 innings pitched. Miller Maddox pitched a stellar 3.0 inning performance, giving up just three hits and no runs. Tucker suffered the loss, her second of the year, to fall to 5-2 on the year.

Kaitlin Moore led the Green-and-White, going 5-for-6 with two runs and two RBI. Going 3-for-5 on the day was Memrie Corley. Amber Adcock followed close behind, hitting 2-for-6 and recording two RBI and one run. Brook Cline added a 2-for-6 day with two RBI, while Madison Zoeller went 2-for-5 with one hit and one RBI.

The Green-and-White will hit the field again for a double header against Stillman College on Monday, Feb. 17 at University Field in Cleveland, Miss. The first pitch will be thrown at 1:00 p.m.