University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Splits Midweek Doubleheader With Nicholls State
4/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Files associated with this release:
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Southern Miss Splits Midweek Doubleheader With Nicholls State
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss and Nicholls State split a midweek, non-conference doubleheader in NCAA softball action Wednesday at the Southern Miss Softball Complex.
The Lady Eagles (22-20) picked up the opening game in a 1-0 squeaker in extra innings, while The Lady Colonels (21-23) though emerged victorious in the nightcap, scoring three unearned runs and going home with a 6-4 victory.
Southern Miss senior pitcher Jessica Holaway (11-5) earned the victory after throwing the complete eight innings and scattering five hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Nicholls State's Dione Meier also had a strong opening game, striking out 13 batters in 7.1 innings. She allowed seven hits though, for one run and also had two walks.
In game two, Danielle Hatfield (4-4) took the loss after allowing six runs, two earned, on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts in 5.2 innings, while Holaway threw 1.1 scoreless frames and had two strikeouts. Nichole Wagner picked up the win for the Lady Colonels, allowing four runs on 10 hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Auriel Jenkins paced the Southern Miss offense with four hits over the two games, one of which proved to be the game-winner in the opener. Sue Logan chipped in with three hits on the night, while Jessica Huerta, Diane Hammes and Sarah Boyd all had two hits.
The opening game was a classic pitchers duel with Holaway and Meier getting out of respective jams and denying the other team to score through the first seven innings. But the Lady Eagles picked up the run that counted, after Jenkins lined an RBI-single up the middle to score Huerta for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.
It was the Lady Eagles defense that did them in during the second game however, with Nicholls State scoring one unearned run in the first and then three more unearned runs in the decisive sixth to pick up the victory. Southern Miss committed three errors in game two, one in the first inning and two more in the sixth.
Leah Peterson finished the night with three hits to lead Nicholls State, while Brandi Hahn, Alaina Vardell and Wagner each had two hits. Wagner had the lone home run, a two-run blast in the third inning of game two.
The Lady Eagles now take to the road for a three-game Conference USA series at Charlotte. The two teams meet in a doubleheader on Saturday (Noon and 2 p.m., CT) and play in a single game on Sunday at Noon.
