Livingston, Ala. -- The Hawks clinched a berth in their second straight Gulf South Conference tournament Sunday afternoon, topping West Alabama 7-5 on the road.

The win gives Shorter a 27-17 overall record and an 18-12 conference mark, while the Tigers slip to 16-30 on the season and 6-24 in conference play.

The Hawks needed the win Sunday, but also needed a West Georgia loss to earn the tournament berth, in order to have a four game lead on the Wolves with three conference games to play. UWG made things interesting, however, taking Valdosta State to extra innings Sunday afternoon; where the Blazers won 2-1 in ten innings.

For Shorter, the Tigers didn't go down easily, scoring five unanswered runs to end the game. But, the Hawk had already built a comfortable lead, and earned the win 7-5.

Kameron Carter led off the scoring, hitting her 12^th homerun of the year and second in as many games, in the first inning after Niki Cook and Kendall Johnson were struck out the begin the game.

Shorter added to in the third with four runs to take a 5-0 lead. After two outs were made the Hawks bats came alive, tallying five runs on six hits – all singles. Johnson led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a single from Carter, before coming in on a single from Ericka Bynum. Peyton Barthel then reached on an error, bringing in Carter, and came in – along with Bynum – on a 2 RBI single from Taylor Ann Oda. Dani Lukas and Carson Carriker also recorded singles during the inning.

The Hawks made it 7-0 in the fourth with two final runs as Cook and Johnson scored on a sacrifice fly and throwing error by the center fielder.

West Alabama broke the shutout in the fourth with a run, and added to it in the fifth with three, before scoring one final time in the seventh for the 7-5 final score.

Payton Lippert earned the win for Shorter, pitching 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Kalei Kimbrell pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing three runs on three hits.

Johnson, Carter and Oda each finished with two hits on the day; while Carter tallied three RBI and Oda two.

Shorter will return to action in the final Gulf South Conference series of the regular season next weekend, April 23-24, as they travel to Pensacola, Fla. to take on the University of West Florida. Games begin at 2:00pm EST both days.