University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Competes in Gator Invitational
2/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Southern Miss Competes in Gator Invitational
Danielle Wymer collected a win in her first outing as a Lady Eagle pitcher |
Days/Dates: Friday, Feb. 14 ? Sunday, Feb. 16
Location: Florida Softball Field, Gainesville, Fla.
Media Coverage: All games will have Live Stats featured on SouthernMiss.com. The link is located on the right column of the softball page.
Series Records: Birmingham Southern ? First Meeting; Florida ? First Meeting; Tennessee-Chattanooga ? USM leads 1-0.
The Lady Eagles (2-1) are coming off a sweep at their season home opener, defeating Northwestern (La.) State, 4-2 and 5-4, on Tuesday, Feb. 11. This weekend, the squad travels to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the Gator Invitational, where host-team Florida (8-4), Birmingham Southern (3-1) and Tennessee-Chattanooga (1-6) also will appear.
Southern Miss opens the tournament against Birmingham Southern on Friday, Feb. 14, at 10 a.m., Central Standard Time. The Lady Eagles follow that contest with a match-up against Tennessee-Chattanooga at 12:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Feb. 15, a face-off against Florida starts at 12:30 p.m., concluding round-robin play. All four teams will then be seeded and paired, according to results, and seed one will play seed four at 3 p.m., and seed two battles seed three at 5:30 p.m.
The tournament concludes on Sunday, Feb. 16, with the consolation game starting at 10 a.m. and the championship game at 12:30 p.m.
Southern Miss has only faced Tennessee-Chattanooga, previously, beating the Mocs, 5-1, in 1999, in the Frost Cutlery Tournament, in Chattanooga, Tenn. This weekend will be the first opportunity for the Lady Eagles to ever compete against Birmingham Southern and Florida.
The weekend event will be the Lady Eagles? first tournament appearance this season. Under Head Coach Gay McNutt, Southern Miss is 21-16 in eight invitational tournaments.
About Birmingham Southern
Birmingham Southern is competing in its second year of NCAA Division I competition and will be eligible for league play in the Big South Conference in the 2004 season. The squad already has played in two doubleheaders, splitting with Mobile (Ala.) by claiming a 6-5 win and a 4-3 loss, and sweeping Morris Brown, 8-0 and 11-2.
The Panthers are led by sophomore Kerri Owens, who is batting .636 after four games. She is 7-for-11 with seven runs, a double and three RBIs. Overall, the team is batting .340 with 28 runs, 32 hits, a double, two triples and is 18-for-19 in stolen base attempts.
Erin Haggard leads the pitching staff with a 1-1 record and a 2.45 ERA. The freshman threw a perfect game against Morris Brown, as the Panthers won 8-0 in five innings.
About Tennessee-Chattanooga
UTC started the year losing its first six contests. The Mocs picked up their first win in the second game of a doubleheader against No. 19 Georgia Tech, 2-0. The squad has experienced some offensive woes with a team batting average of .145 and a scoring production of four runs in seven games.
Lindsey Howard, a transfer from LSU, leads Chattanooga with a .300 batting average. The sophomore is hitting 3-for-10 with one RBI. Freshman pitcher Sarah Meek (1-2, 3.32 ERA, 18 Ks) collected the shutout against the Yellow Jackets, giving up one hit and six walks and striking out five.
About Florida
The Gators are coming off a 7-2 victory over Illinois-Chicago, last Saturday, Feb. 8. The win concluded the GRU Classic, another tournament that Florida hosted, and gave the Gators a 3-1 record in the event.
Florida also claims over UCF (6-5 and 1-0), Texas-Arlington (5-4 and 3-1), Centenary (14-1) and South Florida (4-3), but fell to Centenary (6-5) and to Baylor (6-1 and 3-0), as well as to No. 8 Oklahoma (2-0).
Jennifer Mossadeghi is batting .421 (16-for-38) and has collected eight runs, five doubles, one triple, two home runs, 11 RBIs and a .763 slugging percentage. Amanda Moore leads the staff of four pitchers with a 3-1 record. She has made seven appearances and has recorded a 1.80 ERA and 14 strikeouts.
Scorching Sarah
Sarah Boyd is the Lady Eagles? top hitter with a .625 batting average. The junior has recorded a hit in all three games, batting a 5-for-8 season total at the plate. She has two doubles, a run scored, three RBIs and an .875 slugging percentage.
In game one of the Northwestern (La.) State doubleheader, Boyd was a perfect 3-for-3, with a run and two RBIs. She also was responsible for the game-winning hit, and finished the night with a combined 4-for-5 hitting.
Jessica?s Dandy
Pitcher Jessica Holaway has appeared in all three of the Lady Eagle?s games. The junior is 1-1 on the season and picked up her first save as a Southern Miss pitcher in game one of the Northwestern (La.) State doubleheader. In 14.0 innings, she has recorded a 1.00 ERA, 13 strikeouts and four walks.
Holaway pitched one inning in the first game against NSU. She came to the circle in the top of the seventh, gave up one hit but struck out the side, sustaining the Lady Eagles? 4-2 victory.
A transfer from Northwestern State, Holaway started the second game against the Lady Demons and collected her first win of the season. She pitched seven innings, gave up seven hits, two earned runs and struck out four.
Holaway is a preseason Conference USA all-conference performer. She ended last season with a 15-13 record, 2.23 ERA and 136 strikeouts.
Resourceful Wymer
Freshman Danielle Wymer was the starting pitcher in the home opener on Tuesday night. She was effective in her first appearance in the circle for the Lady Eagles, giving up four hits, two walks and one earned run.
Wymer also was 2-for-3 from the plate. Facing an 0-2 count in the sixth inning, she recorded a single for her second hit of the night.
Brownie Points
Amanda Brown sparked the Lady Eagles in the sixth inning in the first game against Northwestern State, when her squeeze bunt started the scoring production, as Heather Bell reached home for the first of three runs collected in the frame. She ended the opener of the doubleheader batting 1-for-1 with an RBI and two sacrifice hits. Brown is batting .333 on the year, 2-for-6, with a run scored and an RBI.
Last season, Brown led the team in runs scored with 25. She currently ranks 10th on the Lady Eagles? all-time runs list with 62. She needs two more to pass Coleen Wagner (1987-90) for ninth place.
Brown needs 10 walks to pass Kenya Peters (1999-02) on the school?s all-time list. In three seasons, Brown has recorded 63 walks and holds the Southern Miss season record of 31, which she collected in 2001 and again in 2002.
On the career stolen base chart, Brown ranks fifth with 44. She is one stolen base behind Jennifer Collins (1999-00) for fourth place and two stolen bases behind Kristie Martin (1999-02) for third. Chrystal Stevens (1999-00) holds the school?s career record with 81.
Brown batted .267 in 2002 with three home runs, six doubles and 17 RBIs. The left fielder is a preseason All-C-USA performer.
Tammy?s Tale
Tammy Edwards made the Conference USA preseason all-conference list for the second year in a row. The senior is the only returning starter in the infield, leading a group of young fielders.
Edwards ranks in the top 10 on the school?s career lists in RBIs, doubles, home runs, walks and at-bats. She is fourth on the all-time list in home runs with 14 and needs five to pass Jennifer Ford (1999-00) for third place.
Currently holding 68 career RBIs, Edwards needs nine RBIs to pass Channika Gant (1999-02) for fifth place on the all-time list. With 15 career doubles, she needs three to pass Courtney Blades (1999-00) and Chrystal Stevens (1999-00) for sixth place.
She ranks sixth with 46 career walks, behind Michelle Mackay (1989-92), who collected 49, and her 412 career at-bats places her in ninth place. She recently surpassed Stevens, who has 406 at-bats.
Ashley at Third
Ashley Brenan hit 2-for-3 in the second game against Northwestern State. The freshman third baseman also collected two runs and an RBI for her best single-game performance.
On the year, Brenan is 2-for-8 at the plate for a .250 batting average. She is also second on the team in assists with five.
Ashley at Short
Ashley Davis started at shortstop in both games of the Northwestern State doubleheader. The freshman has performed well defensively with three putouts and six assists.
Davis collected a hit in both games as well. She went 1-for-3 with a run scored in the opener and repeated the feat in the nightcap. Davis is batting .333 on the year with two runs scored.
It?s Not Over
In both wins over Northwestern State, the Lady Eagles had to come from behind to claim the victories. The Lady Demons were holding a 2-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings in the first game, but Southern Miss countered with a run in the bottom of the fourth and three in the sixth for the 4-2 win.
In game two, NSU held a 3-0 lead after the top of the third, but the Lady Eagles answered in the bottom frame with three runs to tie the score. The Lady Demons went up again with a run in the top of the fifth, but Southern Miss responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Winning Relief at Home
The opening game of the Northwestern State doubleheader ended the Lady Eagles? eight home-game losing streak. By beating the Lady Demons, 4-2, Southern Miss collected its first home victory since defeating Louisville, 1-0 in 10 innings, on April 6, 2002. The Lady Eagles suffered losses against Alabama, LSU, DePaul and Louisiana-Lafayette, and all were ranked opponents when competing in Hattiesburg.
