University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagles Host Louisville in C-USA Series
4/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Lady Eagles Host Louisville in C-USA Series
The Southern Miss softball team is very much in the hunt for first place in the Conference USA standings. With a 9-3 league record (20-20 overall), the Lady Eagles follow DePaul (7-1) as the top team in C-USA.
Louisville (18-17, 5-2 in C-USA) comes to Hattiesburg this weekend, looking for a chance to move up in the conference ranks. A doubleheader will be held at the Southern Miss Softball Complex on Saturday, April 6, at 1 p.m. A single game finishes the series on Sunday, April 7, at noon.
The Lady Eagles hold an 8-0 series record against the Cardinals. Southern Miss won all four meetings last season, including a 7-1 victory at Louisville in the Conference USA Tournament that advanced the Lady Eagles to the championship game.
The Cardinals won their last league series, sweeping South Florida in a doubleheader last weekend, with the single game cancelled due to rain. South Florida won two games against Southern Miss the previous week.
Melissa Jacobo leads Louisville in hitting, with a .383 batting average that ranks fourth in the conference. Her six home runs rank third in the league, and her 29 RBIs rank fourth.
Two other Cardinals are batting over .300, including Kenzie Meisenburg (.350) and Keola Calderon (.319). Meisenburg leads the league in runs scored with 27.
Pitcher Jessica Rak leads the league in wins with a record of 16-4. She is fifth in the conference in ERA at 1.44 and has pitched a league-best 146 innings this season.
Amanda Brown now leads the Lady Eagles in hitting with a .293 average. She is also the best hitter at the new Southern Miss Softball Complex, batting 10-for-25 (.400) in the nine games held at the new park.
Channika Gant and Kenya Peters are both batting .278. Gant has stroked a .333 average at the Complex, holding a .538 on-base percentage at the new field. Peters leads the team in doubles with seven and is second in hits with 27.
Melissa Cundiff has been hot on the mound recently. In her last 18 2/3 innings, she has not given up a run. In her three appearances at the Southern Miss Softball Complex, Cundiff is 2-0 with one walk and 11 strikeouts and has surrendered nine hits.
The three-game series against Louisville ends a 10-game home span for the Lady Eagles. They travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, April 10, for a single game against Alabama at 5:30 p.m.
