LORMAN, Miss. – Southeastern Louisiana scored in each of the first five innings on the way to an 8-1 victory over Alcorn State in nonconference softball action Tuesday afternoon at the Alcorn Softball Complex.
 
The Lady Lions (16-11) closed out a four-game road swing with their third straight victory. Alcorn State fell to 2-14 overall with its 11^th consecutive loss.
 
Amberlyn Alfano led a 12-hit Southeastern attack with a 3-for-3 performance, while Ali McCoy hit an inside-the-park home run. Jaquelyn Ramon and Rebecca Skains led SLU with two runs apiece.
 
Four SLU pitchers combined to limit Alcorn State to five hits. Briahna Bennett (2-2) struck out four in two innings of shutout relief to earn the win. McCoy, Caitlyn VanHemelryck and Shelby Sitzman each also shared the work in the circle.
 
SLU stole nine bases to increase its Division I-leading total to 130. Alfano, Ramon, Mima Doucet and Karlee Kraft each stole two bases to lead SLU's running attack.
 
The Division I leader, Ramon has 40 stolen bases this season. The Southland and SLU career standard bearer now has 161 steals in her Lady Lion career and moved into a tie for 17^th all-time with Delaware State's La'Tosha Williams (1993-95, 97) and Florida State's Shamalene Wilson (1993-96) on the all-time Division I steals leaderboard.
 
SLU took the lead in the top of the first inning versus Alcorn State starter Paige Taylor (2-6). Ramon walked, stole second and scored on Skains' league-leading 13^th double of the season. Skains would later come home when Doucet singled through the left side to put Southeastern on top, 2-0.
 
SLU padded the lead in the top of the second inning. Kraft reached on an error, stole second, moved up on a single by Alfano and scored when Ramon beat out an infield single to put Southeastern ahead, 3-0.
 
Alcorn got on the board in the bottom of the second versus McCoy. Alexsis Ramirez led off the inning with a bloop single, then came home later in the frame on an RBI double by Eva Scott. McCoy walked Desirea Lindsey to put the tying run aboard, but McCoy retired Brittney Triplett to get out of the inning with SLU ahead, 3-1.
 
Southeastern answered back in the top of the third inning. Ella Manzer led off the inning with a double, then scored when McCoy lined an inside-the-park home run into the right field corner. The Maurepas, Louisiana native's second career inside-the-park homer gave the Lady Lions a 5-1 cushion.
 
A double steal by Skains and Ramon led to SLU's sixth run in the top of the fourth inning. Skains would later score on an RBI groundout by Madisen Blackford to give Southeastern a 7-1 advantage. Alfano singled and stole second and came home on one of Alcorn State's six errors to close out the scoring in the top of the fifth inning.
 
Alcorn posted its best scoring threat of the latter innings in the sixth, as Brooke Roach led off the frame with a double into the right centerfield gap. However, VanHemelryck kept her on the base paths, retiring the next three Lady Braves to keep the SLU lead at 8-1.
 
SLU nearly added to its final margin in its half of the seventh. A single by Caroline Manzer and a double by Hannah Blackford put a pair of runners on with one out, but both runner would be stranded.
 
Sitzman tossed a scoreless seventh to close out the victory. All told 20 different Lady Lions saw the field in Tuesday's win with only weekend pitchers Alley McDonald and Tanner Wright not seeing action.
 
The Lady Lions return home to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game Southland series at North Oak Park. The series opens with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and Saturday's series finale is set for noon.
 
Every home Saturday is Local Heroes Appreciation at North Oak Park, as all first responders, service members and military personnel will receive a discounted ticket with a valid ID.
 
LionVision subscribers will be able to access a live video stream of the SLU-AMCC softball series at www.LionSports.net/watch (With audio on Friday, no audio on Saturday).
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events (softball, baseball, football and basketball), effective with the start of the 2018 football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.
 
HOME RUN CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the softball program are encouraged to join the Home Run Club. Lady Lion softball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Home Run Club and S Club (softball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern softball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @SLUlionsoftball on Twitter and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.