Albany State softball to play in SIAC title game

ALBANY — So far the SIAC softball tournament has been just as good as advertised, with almost every game coming down to the wire.

This includes Albany State’s Day 2 matchups against Miles and Kentucky State.

The Golden Rams outlasted Miles 3-2 in the noon game then got a walk-off single from Lavette Tucker to defeat Kentucky State 2-1 and punch their ticket to the championship round. They face the winner of the 11 a.m. Kentucky State-Claflin elimination game in the 1 p.m. championship game at Gordon Sports Complex.

Albany State will have two chances to win the conference championship. Should the Rams lose the 1 p.m. contest, a second, winner-take-all game will follow.

“What got us here was doing the little things right and keeping it simple,” ASU head coach Amber Barker said. “Yes, it’s the championship, and, yes, it’s the conference tournament, but we still have to play ASU softball and not get to big.”

Kentucky State came in to Friday evening’s game with a full head of steam after erasing a 7-0 deficit in their Day 1 game against Clark Atlanta and getting an 8-7 win.

Despite having ace pitcher Aryn McGowan in the circle the Rams started the game off shaky, walking the two of the first three batters and allowing the Thorobreds to load the bases up with no outs.

Still, McGowan and the defense settled in and gave up just one run in what could’ve been a disastrous first inning. McGowan went on to give up five hits and just one run in seven innings while striking out two.

Barker said McGowan blocked out everything going on to come up big for the Rams.

“Aryn did a great job of staying inside what we call the circle,” Barker said. “Just staying in that circle and that area and not letting anything distract her, and I think she did a great job at that.”

Earlier Friday against Miles, the Rams played from behind for most of the game. Down 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Kendyl Davis picked up an inside-the-park home run to tie things up. Mikiyah Harris then hit an RBI double to bring McGowan home and give ASU a 3-2 lead.

From there, the defense took care of business in the top of the seventh to seal the deal. Lauren Lowery got the win for ASU, giving up eight hits and two runs in seven innings.

ASU recorded 12 hits between the two games.

“Much better quality of at bats and picking our pitch,” Barker said. “We’ve been struggling with that this tournament, just not hitting our pitch and letting the pitcher win. So I thought we had much better at-bats and going after our pitch and then doing the little things right.”