Lady Eagles Look To End Drought at Charlotte
5/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Lady Eagles Look To End Drought at Charlotte
The Southern Miss softball team is searching for a win. The Lady Eagles have not been victorious in almost three weeks, and they are hoping to find success when they go to Charlotte, N.C., to face Charlotte in a three-game Conference USA series.
A doubleheader will start at 11 a.m. (CST), on Saturday, May 4, and a single game will begin at noon, on Sunday, May 5. All three games will be featured on a ?live stats? broadcast on SouthernMiss.com.
Southern Miss (25-32, 14-7 in C-USA) has not claimed a win since April 14, when the Lady Eagles picked up their third win 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, No. 18 DePaul and No. 19 Louisana-Lafayette. Seven of the losses have been decided by three runs or less.
In six meetings, Charlotte (23-26, 5-14) has not beaten Southern Miss. The Lady Eagles won three games against the 49ers in 2000 and three games in 2001.
The 49ers have improved since finishing 17-33 in 2001. Before losing a doubleheader to Louisville last weekend, Charlotte won five straight, including a three-game sweep over East Carolina.
Leah Heston is second in the league in hitting with a .413 batting average. She also claims six home runs and 44 RBIs and leads the conference in slugging percentage (.650), On-base percentage (.512) and RBIs.
Three other Niners are batting over .300, including Stephanie Dunlap holds a .367 clip with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Melanie Thevenote is batting .337, and Autumn Lawson strokes at .327.
Betsy Thompson and Amy Morse have handled most of Charlotte?s pitching duties. Thompson is 11-12 this year, with a 1.55 ERA and 127 strikeouts, and Morse is 8-9 with a 3.55 ERA and 64 strikeouts.
The bats need to come alive for the Lady Eagles, who are batting .218 as a team. Sarah Boyd has been the best performer in conference play, hitting .308 against league teams with four home runs and 11 RBIs. In conference-only stats, she leads the league in homers and in slugging percentage at .635.
Kenya Peters holds the conference RBI title in league games with 13. She is batting .286 with three home runs.
Jessica Holaway is 6-3 in conference games with a 0.89 ERA and 37 strikeouts. Felicia Gonzales is 5-2 in league play with a 2.57 ERA and 40 strikeouts.
This weekend series concludes the Lady Eagles? regular season. They will compete in the Conference USA Tournament, which starts competition on Thursday, May 9, in Tampa, Fla.
Southern Miss is fighting for second place in the C-USA standings. Heading into the weekend, UAB is tied for second with the Lady Eagles. The Blazers face DePaul in a three-game series.
If the Lady Eagles finish second, they will receive a bye in the first round of tournament competition and play Thursday night, May 9, at 5 p.m. (CST), against the winner of the third-seed and sixth-seed game.