The Rattlers swept the weekend series against South Carolina State 3-0
Photo credit: Sydney Vigille
The softball team at Florida A&M University is on a six-game winning streak in conference play after sweeping the Bulldogs of South Carolina State University in a three-game series this weekend.
After winning their first series of conference games on the road, the Rattlers (13-20) (6-0 MEAC) came home to take care of business with the Bulldogs (1-17) (1-5 MEAC) as they work to become champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference once again.
“Winning this series is very important going into this next series,” assistant coach Constance Orr said. “This will give us a little confidence boost going into the next series.”
In the first game of the series, the Rattlers came out swinging and scored 3 runs in the first inning. As the bats kept going, junior outfielder Alexis Day hit the first home run of the day in the third inning. Later on in the game, sophomore infielder Yurie Hampton hit a two run home run which helped the Rattlers win the first game 8-1
The Bulldogs stepped up their defense in the second game by allowing only one run in the first inning and then took an early 3-1 lead over the Rattlers in the fifth inning. The Rattlers started their rally in the next inning and were able to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh.
The game continued into the 10th inning where the international tie breaker rule came into play and Day was able to score the final run and help her team win 4-3
“The hits didn’t come in how we wanted them to so we’re going to come in and work harder,” senior infielder Toni Anderson said, “We have to play with pride and heart and know that we’re the defending champions.”
In the third game, the Rattlers and the Bulldogs went back and forth getting three up and three down until the Bulldogs were able to get a lead off of a few errors and base hits. The Rattlers got their bats swinging again late in the game and were able to take the lead and hold off the Bulldogs in the end, 5-4.
“I love how we got the sweep by coming out on a good start and we kept the ball rolling and hopefully we continue to do that throughout the year,” junior infielder Taylor Rosier said.
The Rattlers’ next game will be on Wednesday against Troy University in Alabama.