Western’s softball team started its campaign for a Sun Belt Tournament championship yesterday as the third seed in this year’s tournament.

But the Lady Toppers started off the tournament with a hiccup, falling to the sixth-seeded South Alabama 6-1.

With the loss, the Lady Toppers moved to 32-18 on the season and 14-10 in Sun Belt Conference play.

The members of Western’s softball team had their final series of the regular season cut short by three innings on Sunday.

While the Lady Toppers were down 4-3 in the middle of the fourth, junior first baseman Lindsay Antone said that she believes that the Lady Toppers weren’t affected by the unfinished game.

Senior left fielder Sam Cronk said that she and the rest of Western’s softball team were told to be more aggressive by the coaching staff.

That aggressive style of play in the batters box led the Lady Toppers to sweep a double header against Belmont last night at the WKU Softball Complex winning game one, 6-3 and game two 4-3.

In the past week, Western’s softball team hit what Coach Tyra Perry said was a difficult patch.

It came in the form of a five-game losing streak which dated back to April 19.

But the Lady Toppers smoothed things out with two straight wins and a series win against South Alabama over the weekend in Mobile, Ala.

Junior first baseman Lindsey Antone said she went into last night’s Sun Belt Conference matchup expecting two wins.

Antone said the Lady Toppers were shocked that the game didn’t go how they had hoped, as Western dropped both games against Florida Atlantic with game one 4-2 and game two 11-5.

Senior second baseman Terri Ellingsworth applied what she had practiced in situational hitting to two pitches that left the WKU Softball Complex, as Ellingsworth hit home runs twice in Saturday’s double header against North Texas.

Western’s softball team gave up both games tonight at the WKU Softball Complex. The Lady Toppers fell to Florida Atlantic 4-2 in game one and 11-5 in game two. In game two, Western was led offensively by senior second baseman Terri Ellingsworth going 2-2 hitting two home runs and batting in four base runners.

NASHVILLE – After putting an emphasis on situational hitting, Western’s softball team got a chance to put the practice into a game situation last night.

In her eight years of coaching, coach Tyra Perry said she has seen some bizarre finishes to softball games.

Perry witnessed another wild finish on Saturday as Western swept Louisiana-Monroe in a weekend that featured rain and schedule changes.

And Western’s 4-3 victory in its last game on Saturday featured a pretty wild ending.

Tuesday marked the first time that Western’s softball team had played a full game in more than six days.

Not seeing action since they beat Tennessee Tech on April 1, the Lady Toppers split a double-header on Tuesday, with UAB winning game one 8-2 and losing game two 5-2.