University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagles Go To Louisville for C-USA Series
3/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Lady Eagles Go To Louisville for C-USA Series
Heather Bell has batted .421 (8-for-19) in the last eight games. |
Dates: Saturday, March 29, at Noon, CT (doubleheader); Sunday, March 30, at Noon, CT
Location: Ulmer Field (1,000), Louisville, Ky.
Media: Live Stats on SouthernMiss.com
Series Record: Southern Miss leads the series, 11-1
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The Southern Miss softball team travels to Louisville, Ky., this weekend to compete against the Louisville Cardinals in a Conference USA three-game series. A doubleheader at Ulmer Field will start on Saturday, March 29, at noon, Central Standard Time, and a single game will end the series on Sunday, March 30, at noon.
Game one will be the 13th meeting between the Lady Eagles and the Cardinals. Louisville picked up its first win against Southern Miss last season, defeating the Lady Eagles in game one of the league series, 3-2, in Hattiesburg. USM won three games against the Cardinals in 2002, including a 5-3 victory in the C-USA tournament.
Southern Miss is coming off its first series win of the season, over South Florida last weekend. The Lady Eagles won the first two games against the Bulls, 2-1 and 10-9, but lost the final game, 7-0. The victories over the nationally-ranked Bulls gave USM some consideration in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25, as the Lady Eagles received six points and ranked 31st in the national poll this week.
Sarah Boyd leads the Southern Miss hitters with a .310 batting average. The junior has seven doubles, two home runs and 15 RBIs. Auriel Jenkins follows, batting .296, and leads the squad with 19 runs scored, two triples, four home runs, a .531 slugging percentage and 10 stolen bases.
Two hitters who have produced successful numbers recently are Heather Bell and Ashley Brenan. Bell has hit safely in six of the last eight games. In that frame, she batted .421 (8-for-19), improving her season average from .200 to .258, and the junior has recorded 10 runs, a double, a triple, two home runs and 10 RBIs.
Brenan takes an eight-game hitting streak into the Louisville series. Last week, the freshman batted .412 (7-of-17) in six games, and in game two against South Florida, she hit 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
Pitcher Jessica Holaway collected two wins and a save last week. She recorded her fourth shutout, against Ole Miss, on a three-hitter that featured her tying her season-high of eight strikeouts.
Holaway collected a 2-1 win against South Florida, surrendering six hits and two walks, while fanning six. On the year, she is 7-9 with three saves, a 2.00 ERA, 33 walks and 72 strikeouts.
Louisville?s Michelle Vasquez was named C-USA Hitter of the Week, as she helped the Cardinals win four-of-five league road games last week by batting .467 (7-for-15). She had at least one hit in each game, recording three doubles and four RBIs, while scoring three runs.
Sara Bausher is U of L?s leading hitter this season, batting .342 (26-of-76) with 14 runs scored, eight doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs. Six Cardinals are batting over .300, and as a team, Louisville is batting .282.
Shannon Nord holds a .327 batting average with 11 runs scored, a double, two triples and four stolen bases. Lisa Estes is hitting .317 with nine runs, five doubles, two home runs and 10 RBIs.
Jessica Rak posted three wins in four appearances last week. In 23 innings pitched, she struck out 23 and allowed just four runs on 10 hits. On the year, she is 7-5 with a save, a 2.14 ERA, 47 walks and 68 strikeouts.
Southern Miss remains on the road, going directly to Fayetteville, Ark., from Louisville, and facing Arkansas in a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 1, at 3 p.m. The games against the Razorbacks will have Live Stats on SouthernMiss.com.
