University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Louisiana Tech Blanks Southern Miss, 4-0, In Tournament Action
2/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Louisiana Tech Blanks Southern Miss, 4-0, In Tournament Action
BATON ROUGE, La. ? The Southern Miss softball team split the opening day of play in the LSU Purple and Gold Challenge, falling to Louisiana Tech, 4-0, in the Lady Eagles' second game of the day, Friday, at LSU's Tiger Park.
Marla Pinkston threw the complete-game, four-hit shutout to lead the Lady Techsters (6-5) to the win. Southern Miss fell to 3-5 with the loss.
Freshman Jessica Saunier (0-2) suffered the loss, giving up four runs on eight hits in the game, while also striking out three batters. Jessica Holaway pitched 2.1 no-hit innings in relief and had two strikeouts.
Neither offense could get much going through the first four innings of play, combining for just five hits and four base runners.
But Louisiana Tech got to work in the fifth inning, breaking into the scoring column for the first time in the game. With one out, Erin Chernicky got the ball rolling with a single to left field. Brittany Stanley followed with an RBI triple to the right center gap, scoring the first run of the game. Amber Miles then hit an RBI-double to right center as well, pushing Stanley across. After Jessica Elson grounded out to advance the runner to third, Casey Reiff sent a shot that just cleared the center field wall, clearing the bases and giving the Lady Techsters the 4-0 lead.
Southern Miss tried to answer in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, freshman Sue Logan notched her first career hit with a single through the left side and then moved to second when Charity Butler drew a walk. But that would be as far as the runners would go, as Tech pitcher Marla Pinkston retired the next two batters and got out of the inning unscathed.
Holaway limited the Lady Techsters in the final 2.1 innings of work, but the Lady Eagles couldn't get out of the offensive rut, managing just one hit in the sixth and two in the seventh in the loss.
Southern Miss now looks to rebound for day two of the three-day tournament with a pair of games slated for Saturday. The Lady Eagles take on Alcorn State (2-1) at 9 a.m., and then face tournament host and 13th-ranked LSU, at 2 p.m. Both games will feature a "Live Stats" broadcast on SouthernMiss.com.
