HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Late inning heroics fell short Tuesday, as Stillman College looked to rally once more in the NAIA Softball Opening Round at William Carey University's Joseph & Nancy Fail Field. The Tigers fell into an early 5-0 hole, before losing 6-3 to No. 7 Jessup University, the top seed in the tournament. Stillman will now need to win two games Wednesday to reach Thursday's Opening Round final.

Lauren Haskins opened the game by legging out a double down the left field line. Stillman played small ball early, as Anniston Jones sacrificed to advance Haskins to third, but she was next thrown out at the plate on a failed sac squeeze bunt by Bailie Seales.

"Lauren did what she was supposed to do, and Bailie laid down a good bunt. That was a bad call on my part. They made a good play and got us out of the inning," head coach Joel Penfield said. "We fought back and had a couple of opportunities and didn't take advantage of it. We'll go in tomorrow...We've got to win to stay. We'll be ready." 

The Warriors took advantage of the Tigers' stymied momentum and loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Stillman pitcher Faith Byram (5-6) walked in the first run, and then Kaitlyn Fanning singled in two runs for a 3-0 lead. Neva Adams singled in two more in the third inning.

Bibb County native Ivey Moreland, who doubled to start the fifth inning, put the Tigers on the board in the sixth inning with a two-run single that scored Madison Bubel and Seales. She finished 2-for-3 to lead Stillman's offense in the game. 

Jessup answered in the bottom of the sixth as Maddy Ybarra hit a solo home run to center off Stillman reliever Lexi McCray.

Haskins managed to manufacture an unearned run in the top of the seventh. After reaching on a fielder's choice, she took second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Haskins stole third and then scored on a wild throw by the catcher before the game ended on the next pitch.

Taylor Roland, Haskins and Bubel each had one hit for the Tigers. 

Stillman (36-14) will meet Indiana University Southeast in an elimination game Wednesday at 2 p.m. The winner of that game will play again at 5 p.m. against the loser of Jessup and William Carey University.