Virginia Mambelli drove in three runs, a career best, to help the South Alabama softball team secure a 6-4 victory over UNC Wilmington at the Bulldog Classic in Athens, Georgia. Sydney Scapin recorded her first career save by closing out the game and stopping a late rally from UNC Wilmington.
Head coach Becky Clark commented on the team’s performance: “Today was a good team win. I thought Tori (Miller) threw a great game and Scape (Sydney Scapin) came in behind her and finished it off. We had some great defensive plays in there as well, as (Olivia) Branstetter made some great grabs at third and (Brooklynn) Bockhaus made two plays in left that were game savers. (Sydney) Stewart came in off the bench and helped us get the big inning going. I thought there was a lot of good stuff all the way around. We needed to bounce back and finish the weekend off the right way.”
South Alabama broke through offensively in the fourth inning when Gracie Dees reached base with an infield single, advanced on a stolen base and passed ball, then scored on Mambelli’s sacrifice fly. The Jaguars added four more runs in the fifth inning with contributions from pinch hitter Sydney Stewart, Brooklynn Bockhaus, Victoria Lively, Dees, Olivia Branstetter, and Mambelli.
UNC Wilmington responded with one run in the sixth before South Alabama answered with another run driven in by Mambelli. In their final at-bat, UNC Wilmington narrowed the gap to 6-4 but could not complete their comeback as Scapin secured the final out.
Key statistics included Lively walking twice and stealing two bases while scoring once. Mambelli contributed both a double and two sacrifice flies for her three RBIs. Dees had two hits, scored twice, walked once, and reached base three times.
The meeting marked only the second time these teams have played each other. Lively extended her streak of reaching base safely to 20 games—a mark tied for twelfth-longest in program history—and has now drawn walks consistently over recent games while also frequently scoring runs this season.
Dees has maintained strong hitting form recently while Bockhaus is nearing entry into South Alabama’s top ten for career sacrifice hits. Other players like Branstetter have also shown consistency both at bat and on base.
South Alabama will next play Nicholls State at home on Tuesday evening.
