University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagles Take Two Against East Carolina
4/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Lady Eagles Take Two Against East Carolina
Channika Gant went 5-for-8 on the day, with three runs, two doubles and four RBIs. |
Channika Gant stroked a combined two-game total of five-for-eight, ending the day with two doubles, three runs scored and four RBIs. The senior also claimed the winning run in the opener and hit in the winning run in the final.
Game one held a 2-2 tie after both teams scored in the first inning. Kenya Peters doubled down the leftfield line to score Gant and Tammy Edwards, and give the Lady Eagles their runs in the top of the first. Kate Manuse singled to left and scored Angela Manzo and Beth Bridger, knotting the score in the bottom frame.
The opener went scoreless for the next six innings, featuring pitching dual between Jessica Holaway and ECU?s Nicole Bacon. Holaway (11-7) pitched all eight innings, giving up one earned run on eight hits and two walks and punching out six. Bacon (16-10) went the distance, giving up no earned runs with seven hits and 10 strikeouts.
In the top of the eighth, Gant doubled with two outs. Peters followed with a hard grounder to Manzo at third base, but Manzo?s throw to first was high, allowing Gant to score.
Gant was three-for-four in the first game, with two runs scored. Peters collected two RBIs, hitting one-for-four, and Edwards was two-for-four, with a double and a run.
Felicia Gonzales (7-7) pitched a three-hit shutout in the final. It was the senior?s third shutout of the season, as she gave up no walks and fanned four.
Southern Miss took a 1-0 lead in the third, when Gant singled to score Heather Bell, who collected a one-for-three plate performance in game two, with two runs and a triple.
With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Gant cleared the bags with a two-out double to left center. The shortstop scored on Peters? RBI single, giving the Lady Eagles the 5-0 lead. Southern Miss is now 11-0 when scoring five runs in a game.
Gant finished game two, hitting two-for-four with a double, a run and four RBIs. Peters was two-for-three with an RBI.
Laurie Davidson (11-6) got the loss in game two. She gave up five earned runs on five hits and five walks, striking out five.
Southern Miss (24-22 and 13-4 in Conference USA) remains in second place in the league standings, behind DePaul (11-1 in C-USA) who swept Louisville today, 7-0 and 7-3. East Carolina is now 29-17 overall and 9-8 in the conference.
The Lady Eagles face the Pirates in a single game tomorrow, Sunday, April 14, at 11 a.m. (CST).
