GRAMBLING, La. – The ULM softball team (10-2) recorded its 10^th win of the 2022 season with an 11-4 win over Grambling at the GSU Softball Complex Tuesday. The Warhawks hit two home runs and scored 10 unanswered runs after the third inning to secure the road win.
 
Freshman Alexis Chavez drove in three runs on two hits and Kennedy Page and Andie Edwards each homered for two RBI apiece. The Warhawks' first spark came off the bat of Ashlan Ard who led off with a double in the top of the third and scored after a throwing error put Lourdes Bacon on base.
 
Grambling went up 2-0 in the first inning when Antiya Randle smacked a two-out single to plate two Lady Tiger runs. The Lady Tigers added two more runs to their total in the bottom of the third for a 4-1 lead. Aggressive base running by Ta'mya Johnson took a lead-off walk and stole second. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and then stole home. Another walk and a double steal put both Lady Tiger baserunners in scoring position. Only one run scored after winning pitcher Kassidy Giddens (3-0) got a flyout and a ground out to end the inning.
 
"Grambling is a very momentum-based team and they were ready to go out of the gate," said ULM head coach Molly Fichtner. "They had the energy and our energy wasn't up to their level and we didn't step on the gas pedal from pitch one. We really didn't step on it until the fourth inning when we started turning things around. We have to have a better start in the circle. I think we only gave up a couple of hits, but we gave up four runs, so we had a lot of walks and such, and we just can't do that against a team like that. We've got to come out from the first pitch and be ready to go."
 
The fourth inning belonged to ULM as Kennedy Johnson drew a lead-off walk and stole second and then third. Johnson crossed the plate on a ground out, but the success was contagious. Jacelyn Buck had a two-out single to left and moved to second on Ard's walk. Kelsey Giddens was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a Lady Tiger pitching change, Bacon drew a walk to push the Warhawks' third run in and then Chavez's timely double plated Giddens and Ard as ULM took a 5-4 lead.
 
The Lady Tigers had just three baserunners after the third inning – two reaching on Warhawk errors and one drawing a walk. Kassidy Giddens pitched 4.2 hitless innings for her third win of the season. She allowed one run and struck out three. Grambling's Dacia Richard evened her record with her second loss.
 
The clutch hitting continued in the fifth inning as Johnson led off with a double to left field and came home on Edwards' home run blast for a 7-4 ULM lead. The next batter, Korie Kreps, walked, and Kelsey Kiddens drew a full-count walk. Bacon had the green light and singled to left on a 3-0 count. Chavez's single to left field scored Kreps for an 8-4 advantage after the Warhawk portion of the fifth.
 
Three more Warhawk runs came in in the seventh inning. Ard got aboard first with a single and scored on Edwards' two-RBI pinch-hit home run. Caley McGuff stepped in as a pinch hitter and had a single to left and scored after Kinsey Kackley also tallied a pinch-hit single to left field.
 
"Hitting is so contagious and all it took was a couple of hits and then a ton more followed, so hopefully it's going to get us in the right mindset going into this weekend," Fichtner continued. "I think we had two home runs from Andie Edwards and Kennedy Page, neither of them were original starters in the field and they did their job, which was great. We had three pinch-hitting opportunities between Andie, Caley McGuff and Kinsey Kackley, and all three of them got base hits, which was really encouraging and exciting for us."
 
ULM follows its travel itinerary to Auburn for the Plainsman Invitational Friday, Feb. 25-Sunday, Feb. 27. Links for live stats are available on the softball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.