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UTEP
Softball Finale Ends in Tie With The Miners, 2-2
4/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 19, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Freshman Ashley Razey belted a 0-1 pitch off the Southern Miss scoreboard in the fifth as the Golden Eagles rallied to tie the game 2-2 in the Conference USA series finale against UTEP Sunday afternoon.
Due to an hour rain delay and UTEP's travel arrangements, the game ended after six innings of play. It was the first tie for a C-USA game and Southern Miss' second of the season.
Southern Miss tallied six hits led by Razey with a 2-for-2 effort at the plate. The Golden Eagles stranded nine runners on base including a bases loaded third inning.
"It was nice to see Sam (Davis) come out and throw well again today," Coach Howard Dobson said. "Today, we struggled again offensively off the kid (Stacie Townsend) who is a pretty good pitcher who spins the ball really well. Sam gave up a couple of runs, but then she settled down. Our team never game up and stayed with our game plan. They stayed focus with our strategy in what we wanted to do. Ashley Razey stepped up and hit a two-run bomb to tie it. And at the end of the game there, going into the sixth, Megan Hill gets a base hit and gets to second and Leslie LeJune, who had been struggling at the plate, comes up with a base hit to left field and gives us a chance to actually win the game on the final out. This team showed some fight and some heart and that's what we trying to instill and hopefully, progress us to the next one. We could have folded and said we were done, but we kept fighting to the end."
UTEP struck first with a run in the third inning as Ashley Ellis doubled to right center to start the inning. Chelsea Troupe then singled up the middle, driving in Ellis to put the Miners up, 1-0.
Southern Miss threatened in its half of the stanza when Megan Hill drew a walk and was sacrificed to second by Casey Jo Matthews. Kristin Pilgrim was hit by a pitch. Logan James moved both runners over a base on a ground out. Razey drew a walk to load the bases, but Lauren Castellvi went down swing for the final.
The Miners added another run in the fourth inning as Jennifer Davis hit a solo home run off the Southern Miss scoreboard with two outs.
Heading into the bottom half of the fifth and down by 2-0, Pilgrim opened the inning with a single past the shortstop. James sacrificed her to second. Razey then belted her third homer of the season to tie the game at 2-2.
UTEP started the sixth inning with Bennett reaching base after being hit by a pitch. Pinch hitter Courtney Ware moved Bennett to second on a sacrifice bunt. LeJune then made a diving catch in center field to get Jennifer Stalter out. After getting three balls, Samantha Davis came back to strike out Jennifer Davis to end the inning.
Townsend retired the first two batters to start the sixth inning. Megan Hill singled down the right field line and got to second with on a fielder's interference call. LeJune then singled through the left side, but Hill was thrown out at the plate to end the game.
Southern Miss continues its homestand, when the Golden Eagles host Northwestern State in a doubleheader, April 22, with the first game beginning at 4 p.m. Live stats will be available on SouthernMiss.com.
