Lady Rams Go 1-1 In Gold Bracket

ORANGE BEACH, Ala-- The 13th-ranked University of Mobile softball team hosted the Gulf Coast Invitational in Orange Beach this weekend and the Lady Rams went 4-0 in pool play before going 1-1 in Gold Bracket action to determine the tournament champion.

The Lady Rams defeated #1 Oklahoma City Saturday night, before falling to #6 St. Gregory's Sunday afternoon in the Gold Bracket semifinals. Mobile is 15-3 on the season and hosts the Venezuelan National Team Tuesday for a 2:00 exhibition double header and then hosts 4th-ranked Trevecca Nazarene Thursday at 5:00 pm.

Lady Rams Beat Top-Ranked Team In Classic Game...

Mobile held on to beat Oklahoma City 2-1 at the Gulf Coast Invitational. Nikki Madden dominated on the mound for Mobile and Taylor Lee Phillips provided the game-winning hit.

Madden scattered 6 hits and struck out 3 to pick up the victory. The senior allowed only 1 unearned run in the 3rd and limited Oklahoma City to 4 baserunners over the final 4 innings of play.

Offensively, Mobile used small ball to take the lead in the 1st inning before OKC tied the game in the 3rd inning. Yaicey Sojo drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice from Taylor Lee Phillips, stole 3rd and then scored on a ground out from Cristina Rodriguez.

The Lady Rams only mustered 4 hits in the game, but did not need anymore as the 1-2 punch of Sojo and Phillips teamed up again. Sojo worked the count for a 2-out walk in the 5th and then Phillips doubled to left-center to chase home Sojo for the decisive run.

Mobile Falls 4-3 To St. Gregory's...

After advancing to the Gold Bracket semifinals with a 1-run victory over top-ranked Oklahoma City, the Lady Rams' run at Orange Beach ended with a 1-run loss to 6th-ranked St. Gregory's.

St. Gregory's had not allowed a run through the first 4 games of the tournament before Mobile scored 3. But, it was not enough as the Lady Rams fell 4-3.

Sharon Bell threw over 130 pitches and danced around 3 hits and 7 walks to out-duel the Lady Ram trio of Karla Rodriguez, Nikki Madden and Ginger Reeser for the victory. Bell struck out 3 and allowed only 1 earned run.

In the 4th, the Lady Rams took advantage of a pair of walks, an error and a wild pitch to put up a pair of runs and take a 3-1 lead, breaking a 1-1 tie.

But, the lead was short-lived as St. Gregory's answered with a pair of tallies of their own in the top of the 5th. In that inning, the victors sent 8 batters to the plate and got runs on an RBI single from Jessica Reed and a bases-loaded walk by Kayla Jackson.

St. Gregory's won the game on some small ball, turning a leadoff walk to Kimmie Willis into the winning tally thanks to a sac bunt and another RBI from Jackson, this time on a base hit to right.