Jennifer Luper and Sasha Philpot are both veterans on the Lady Aggie softball squad.And they’re pitching like it too.

The two haven’t allowed any runs on just seven hits in the last four games and displayed that dominance on the mound Tuesday afternoon in their 7-0, 2-0 doubleheader sweep over Savannah State at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.

The wins helped bring them back up to .500 (22-22, 5-1) as they hold on to first place in the MEAC Southern Division.

“Our defense has really been on it for the last four or five games,” Aggie head coach Mamie Jones said.

“Pitching makes all of the difference. The pitching in the second game was a whole  lot faster and had a little more movement in the ball.”

Savannah State can probably attest to this. In the second game of the doubleheader Philpot held the Tigers to just two hits – a double by Tiffany Taylor at the top of the fourth and a single from Alexis Carson to lead off the sixth.

Despite Philpot’s pitching heroics early, it seemed to take a toll on her physically at the bottom of the seventh inning.

She walked three batters with the Aggies just one out away from the win before finally retiring Carson, who grounded out to shortstop.

Ryanne Hill’s solo home run and Yahamma White’s run off of Larson’s base hit accounted for the Aggies’ two scores.

“We’re not going to hit every ball game,” said Jones, ” That’s why we need to play good defense throughout every ball game so we can give our offense a chance to win games.”

And Jones got that offensive effort in Game 1.The Aggies combined for 10 hits with most of the damage coming at the bottom of the fourth.

They scored five runs during the inning to take a 7-0 lead.

This helped take the load off of Luper as she allowed only four hits in the game.

It’s safe to say that the Aggies have picked the right time to click on both sides of the ball.

“We got conference games coming up the next couple of weekends which should aim our fate for the conference MEAC,” Jones said.

“I’ve been pleased overall as far as the games that we have played. The kids are more focused right now at the end of the year and all and they got exams coming up – so it’s kind of hard to keep them just focused on softball. “

“For the most part they’ve overcome and done well with academics and with softball.”

• Daniel Henderson