DECATUR, Ala. –  The University of West Alabama softball team remained perfect at the Gulf South Conference Crossover after picking up a pair of one-run contests on Sunday.  UWA rallied past Arkansas Tech 9-8 in the morning session before topping Ouachita Baptist, 5-4. 

With the sweep, the Tigers bump their overall mark to 34-7 along with notching the eighth conference win of the season with the OBU win.  The 34 wins match the 1991 squads overall win mark and the eight conference wins are the most since the 2002 campaign.

Junior right hander Jessica Cervantes etched her name in the NCAA Division II record book after turning in her 12th save of the season in the 5-4 win over OBU. She broke the single-season record for saves in a season for NCAA Division II.  Cervantes surpasses former UAH standout Jenny Hess, who posted 11 saves during the 2006 season.  The Visalia, Calif-product also turned in her seventh win of the season in the ATU affair.  On the weekend, Cervantes has registered four saves in five appearances in the circle.

Cervantes became the pitcher of record after the Tigers stormed back from a 7-1 deficit after three complete innings.  UWA chipped away at the deficit with runs in its final four at bats.  The Tigers’ comeback started after Kelli Hartley rounded the bases on a fielding miscue by the Golden Suns’ shortstop in the fourth.  ATU’s Stephanie Lasley’s throw to first went past the first baseman and down into foul grounds.  The Red and White trimmed the ATU lead down to 7-4 after plating a pair of runs in the fifth.  After two outs in the frame, senior Ashley Edgar singled through the ride side followed by another ATU miscue off the bat of Lauren Mills.  Jessica Powell slapped a base hit to left center, plating pinch runner Mary Wright.  Valisha Fincher beat out an infield single, scoring Mills.  In the sixth, UWA strung together four hits in the frame with the big hit coming from Edgar, who drilled one to right to plate UWA’s seventh run.  Edgar finished 3-for-3 in the contest along with an RBI.

After ATU took an 8-7 lead in the final inning, UWA tied the game on a Hartley single up the middle, scoring Powell, who started the frame with a lead off walk.  With the bases full of Tigers, Laura Bagwell laid down a perfect squeeze bunt in front of the plate to score the game-winning run.

In the OBU tilt, UWA exploded for four runs in the second and a run in the fifth.  Bagwell, Edgar and Angela Smith turned in the run-scoring hits in the second, as both registered RBI doubles to left center.  Bagwell’s two-bagger scored Hartley and Fincher.  Smith drove in Bagwell before Edgar’s double plated Smith.  Hartley picked up an RBI with a run-scoring single in the fifth to drive in Powell, who led off the inning with a double.

UWA starter Aubree Hudson cruised through her four innings of work. Allowing just one OBU hit and recording a pair of strikeouts in a winning effort. After surrendering a single in the first to OBU’s Monica Davis, Hudson set down the next 11 OBU batters.  The Purple and Gold Tigers touched Brittany McGee for four runs in the sixth to make things interesting in the final two innings before Cervantes closed out the contest in the seventh.

The Tigers will close out the extended GSC Crossover on Monday, April 6 against Southern Arkansas at 10 a.m. and a match up with Arkansas at Monticello at Noon.  The pair of games on Monday was moved from Thursday due to rain.  Both games will be available at athletics.uwa.edu by clicking on the crossover central link.