BATON ROUGE, La. - A six-run second inning along with five errors created a deficit too large to overcome as PVAMU dropped its softball series opener at Southern on Friday afternoon.

PVAMU would strike first as leadoff batter Shelby Williams singled, stole second and scored on Briana Knowles' stolen base for a 1-0 lead in the first.

Everything went wrong in the second frame for PVAMU as a passed ball moved SU's leadoff batter into scoring position. SU singled shortly thereafter to move the runner to third followed by a fielding error which led to a 1-1 tie. PVAMU managed to pick up its second out as SU had two runners in scoring position but the bottom fell out as SU recorded consecutive singles to move ahead 3-1 followed by two fielding errors which led directly to runs scored and a 6-1 deficit when the smoke finally cleared. 

Another error led to SU moving ahead 7-1 in the third and it took two innings for PVAMU to score again as Peyton Simms hit an RBI single along with Jalla Johnson's run off an SU fielding error. However, the Lady Panthers squandered additional scoring opportunities as two outs were issued via baserunning errors.

The Lady Panthers opened the seventh inning with a bang as Jalla Johnson reached third on an SU error which led to Simms' RBI bunt single. An SU fielding error allowed Shelby Williams to reach base with Simms eventually advancing to third on Daniesha Hinton's fielder's choice. Simms brought the team within 7-5 after scoring on Knowles' sac bunt but that would end the scoring as the Lady Panthers flied out to end the game.

Williams finished 2-for-4 with a run while Simms finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Ashley Higgins was tagged with the loss as she dropped to 3-10.

The series concludes on Saturday at 1 p.m.