Lady Eagles Lose 10th Straight in Cajun Sweep
5/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Lady Eagles Lose 10th Straight in Cajun Sweep
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Losing continues to stifle the Lady Eagles? season, as the 25-32 squad lost two games tonight against No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette, 2-1 and 3-1. Lady Cajun pitchers Melissa Coronado (13-2) and Brooke Mitchell (18-5) held Southern Miss to one run apiece in picking up the wins.
Southern Miss has not claimed a win since April 14, when the Lady Eagles picked up their third victory of that weekend over East Carolina. The 10-game losing streak has come against tough competition, as all 10 games were against ranked opponents, including No. 15 Alabama, No. 3 LSU and No. 18 DePaul. Seven of the losses have been decided by three runs or less.
The Lady Eagles stranded 10 runners on base in game one, with many opportunities to overtake the Lady Cajuns (46-11). After ULL took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, Southern Miss attempted to tie the game, in the bottom frame, when Melanie Hymel attempted to score from third on a wild pitch, but she was tagged at the plate on a tight play.
In the third inning, Erinne Milligan reached base on a bunt single, advancing Kristie Martin to third. On the play, Milligan almost got in a rundown, thinking the first basemen mishandled the ball, but Milligan dove back to first base. Tammy Edwards reached on a hit-by-pitch, which was one of seven hit batsmen committed by Coronado in the opener, and the bases were loaded with Eagles. Kenya Peters stranded the runners with a pop up to second, ending the inning.
Louisiana-Lafayette went up 2-0 in the fifth, when Becky McMurtry singled home Jerie Alexander. Peters came through in the bottom of the fifth, with a line-drive single down the left field line, scoring Amanda Brown and closing the lead, 2-1.
The Lady Cajuns almost added a third run in the top of the seventh. With McMurtry at second, Alana Addison singled to left, and McMurtry got the green light to go home, but Milligan, the leftfielder, gunned down the runner with a perfect one-hop throw to Peters covering the plate.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Southern Miss had Peters at first and Brown at third, with Hymel at the plate. The sophomore lined the final pitch to McMurtry at third base to end the game.
Felicia Gonzales (7-12) went five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and four walks. She struck out seven.
Game two featured some early fireworks by the Lady Cajuns. A solo homer by Jill Robertson put ULL on the board in the second, and Crystal George made it 2-0 in the third, with her single blast to left field.
Southern Miss made it 2-1 in the third, when Edwards walked with the bases loaded to score Brown, which gave her two runs scored on the night.
Joy Webre added her second sacrifice fly of the evening, with a fly out to center field, scoring Robertson from third, for her second run of the game, and increasing the lead to 3-1.
Jessica Holaway (12-12) went the distance in game two, giving up three runs on four hits, walking four and striking out three.
Martin went two-for-five on the evening, and Brown was one-for-two in game one. Brown also collected eight putouts in both games, with an impressive defensive performance in centerfield.
The Lady Eagles regular season comes to a close this weekend, as they travel to Charlotte, N.C., to face the Charlotte 49ers in a three-game series. A doubleheader will start at 11 a.m. (CST) on Saturday, May 4, and a single game will start at noon on Sunday, May 5. All three games will be featured on a ?live stats? broadcast on SouthernMiss.com.