Dillard breaks through late, tops Stillman 8-4 behind seven-run finish

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dillard finally turned steady pressure into a breakthrough Saturday afternoon, scoring six times over the final two innings to pull away from Stillman for an 8-4 win at 3:55 p.m.

The Bleu Devils built the game patiently, manufacturing runs early and repeatedly forcing Stillman into mistakes before delivering the decisive blow in the seventh. Dillard finished with 11 hits and took advantage of two Stillman errors, with three of its eight runs scoring unearned.

Dillard struck first in the second when Ashlynn Gaston singled up the middle to bring home Jessica Battiste, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. The Bleu Devils doubled the margin in the fifth on Amayiah Franklin's RBI single to center, scoring Gaston for a 2-0 advantage.

The game tilted further in the sixth as Dillard extended the lead to 4-0. A Stillman fielding error brought in one run, and Ja'Lise Stewart followed with a sacrifice fly to center to plate another. Stillman  answered in the bottom half with RBI singles from G. Fjeldstad and A. Erwin, trimming the deficit to 4-2 and setting up a tense final inning.

Dillard responded with its biggest frame of the season. In the seventh, Battiste delivered the key hit, a two-run single to left to push the lead to 6-2. Gaston added another RBI single, and Dillard tacked on an additional run when Kylie Price was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, stretching the margin to 8-2.

Stillman scratched across two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the early deficit created by Dillard's steady attack and late surge proved too much to overcome.

Gaston powered Dillard's offense with a 4-for-4 day that included a double and two RBIs, while Battiste finished with three runs scored and two RBIs. In the circle, Price worked six innings, allowing two runs before Mary-Elizabeth Landry closed out the final inning.

-Bleu Devils-