ROME, Ga. – Shorter University scored a run on no hits in both the third and fourth innings to take the Gulf South Conference series from West Alabama, defeating the Tigers 3-1 in the rubber game at the Alto Park Softball Complex on Saturday.
 
The Lady Hawks improve to 24-21 overall, moving to 13-14 in league play, holding a three-game lead over the Tigers (20-26, 10-17 GSC) for the eighth seed in the GSC Tournament.
 
"It was a tight game, and I hate it for the girls because we are so close," UWA head coach Carie Dever-Boaz said. "Even though we had three errors, nobody blew up and we hung in there until the end."
 
"I think our hitting is steadily becoming more consistent – one through nine. We out-hit Shorter 8 to 4, but we just left too many runners on base."
 
For the third time in the series, Shorter drew first blood, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as a sacrifice fly off the bat Savannah Thomas allowed Ashley Langel, who pinch ran for Ericka Bynum, to score from third.
 
The Tigers rapped out four hits in the top of the fourth, tying the game with a lead-off homer from Audrey Diekmann, her 13^th of the season.
 
Allison Craft doubled two batters later, followed by back-to-back singles from Sarah Beth King and Abby McKee to load the bases with just one away. However, SU relief pitcher Kalei Kimbrell forced a popup and fly-out to end the UWA threat.
 
The Tigers committed back-to-back errors to start the bottom of the fourth, allowing lead-off batter Taylor Martin to score an unearned run on a sacrifice fly from Abi Valdes three batters later for a 2-1 Shorter advantage.
 
"Those two errors at the start of the fourth shifted the dynamic at the end of the game," Dever-Boaz said. "Their lead runner was able to score and instead of heading into the seventh down one run, we were trailing by two."
 
The Lady Hawks extended their lead to a final 3-1 in the fifth as Thomas recorded her second run-batted-in, driving in Bynum, who reached on a lead-off single.
 
King's two hits paced the Tigers, while Ashlend Rodriguez, Diekmann, Craft and McKee each chipped in a hit on the day. Bynum led the Lady Hawks with two hits. Maddie Hunt and Thomas both tallied a hit in the win.
 
Kimbrell (8-6) earns the win, disallowing a run and striking out four after coming in for starter Hannah Draper in the fourth inning. Andrea Edmonds (16-21) takes the loss, giving up two earned runs on four hits in six innings of work.
 
The Tigers wrap up the road portion of their regular season schedule, travelling to Carrollton, Georgia, for a three-game GSC series against West Georgia. The Tigers and Wolves will begin the series with a double header on Saturday with the first pitch at University Softball Field slated for noon CDT.