University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Takes First Two League Games Against Saint Louis
3/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Files associated with this release:
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Southern Miss Takes First Two League Games Against Saint Louis
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The Southern Miss softball team wanted to get off to a good start in Conference USA play, and with a two-game first-day sweep over Saint Louis, a good start is what the team got.
The Lady Eagles (10-12, 2-0 in C-USA) picked up a 5-0 first game win over the Billikens (6-7, 0-2) and then came away with a 14-6 run-rule victory in the second game to go up 2-0 in the three-game weekend series. The final game of the opening league series is slated for Sunday, with a 1 p.m., first pitch.
"This feels good to pick up the two wins, but we need to keep it going," Southern Miss Head Coach Gay McNutt said. "We are not going to celebrate until we complete what we set out to do. Saint Louis is not going to quit.
"One of the big things that we wanted to do today was to be aggressive, and we were able to do that."
Seniors Jessica Holaway and Danielle Hatfield both improved to 4-3 on the season with the respective wins. Holaway took the opening game victory after tossing a one-hit, complete-game shutout with one walk and seven strikeouts. In the second game, Hatfield earned the victory after giving up six runs, one earned, on six hits in 4.1 innings of work and had five strikeouts. Holaway pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief in game two, giving up one hit and striking out two batters.
At the plate, Ashley Davis led all players with four hits in five at bats, including a perfect 3-for-3 in the game two victory, while Sarah Boyd, Ashley Brenan and Diane Hammes all picked up three hits on the day. Hammes led all players with four RBIs, while Boyd hit the only home run. Brenan and Hammes also chipped in with two doubles each.
In the opening game, the Lady Eagles picked up key runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Auriel Jenkins lined an RBI-single to score Boyd in the fourth, while Hammes picked up an RBI-double to push Brenan across in the sixth.
It was a different story for Southern Miss in the second game as the offense came out swinging with five quick runs in the first inning. The team then added at least one run in each of the remaining four innings, with a two-RBI, game ending double by Hammes to give the Lady Eagles the run rule win.
In all, six players finished with multiple hits in the second game, including Davis, Brenan, Hammes, Boyd, Jessica Huerta and Danielle Wymer.
For Saint Louis, Elizabeth Nielsen (5-3) took the game one loss, allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Kristin Rossi (1-4) suffered the loss in the second game, giving up seven runs, six earned, on seven hits in two innings of work. Nielsen pitched two innings in relief in game two, giving up seven runs on nine hits.
Adrienne May and Melissa Quist both had two hits for the Billikens over the two games.
