Southern Miss
Houston
Southern Miss Upsets Houston in C-USA Softball Quarterfinals
5/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 8, 2009
EL PASO, Texas - No. 6 Southern Miss jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning and never looked back en route to a 5-4 win over third-seeded Houston during the quarterfinals of the 2009 C-USA Championship presented by Helen of Troy late Thursday night at Helen of Troy Field in El Paso, Texas on the campus of UTEP.
The game was originally schedule to start at 9 p.m. CT, but with No. 2 East Carolina and No. 7 UTEP's game going into 13 innings and lasting four hours, the No. 3 Houston and No. 6 Southern Miss game started at 11:10 p.m. CT.
"From the get-go we came out and set the tempo," Coach Howard Dobson said. "Right off the bat, Leslie LeJune gets on base, Brandi Alonzo gets a base hit, KP (Kristin Pilgrim) gets on base and Hill hits a double off the wall. Now we are up 2-0 before they realize what was happening. We came out aggressive. What we have been preaching all year long, we finally came out and did. I guess it's a good time to do it."
Samantha Davis (13-11), a second team All-Conference selection, earned the win giving up four runs on hits 10, but only one was earned. Houston's Amanda Crabtree (7-10), who came on in relief of Baillie Lott, got the loss.
"Samantha came out and threw well," Dobson said. "We had a couple of errors that cost us three runs that tied the game up. As soon as we came off defense, the first thing I told them was that you're killing yourself and to make sure you answer back. And sure enough, we scored two runs which ended up being the difference in the game. We swung the bats a little bit better and then Sam threw well. She did what she needed to do. She didn't have a whole lot of strikeouts, but she hit her spots and she stayed with her game plan."
With no outs in the top of the first inning, Southern Miss put two runs on the board. Leslie LeJune reached base on an error by senior Jessica Valis, and Brandi Alonzo hit a single. Both runners would score on a double by Megan Hill. The inning would end with the Golden Eagles up 3-0, after Logan James hit a single to score Kristin Pilgrim, who reached base on an error by senior catcher Elaina Nordstrom.
Houston was unable to manufacture any runs in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Amanda Crabtree came in to pitch in the top of the second inning to relieve sophomore Baillie Lott and retired three batters.
With two outs, sophomore Melissa Gregson, who singled, scored on an error by the leftfielder. The error was a drop ball hit by sophomore Casey Willow, who reached third. Willow would eventually score on a fielder's choice by sophomore Katy Beth Sherman. Houston would tie the score at three when Sherman scored on a single by senior Katie Bush. The inning would end on a pop up by senior Laurie Wagner.
The Golden Eagles added two runs in the top of the third inning on two hits, and one error. With no outs, and bases loaded the Cougars got out of the jam to end the inning down 5-3. Neither team would score innings four through six. Houston added one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it wouldn't be enough for the win.
On Saturday, May 9 at 12:30 p.m. MT, CBS College Sports Network will broadcast the Conference USA Softball Championship game. Play-by-play announcer Carter Blackburn will team with analyst Tammy Blackburn to call the action.
As a special in-game feature, fans are invited to follow along and interact with Carter and Tammy on Twitter. Both announcers will be "Tweeting" on-site, providing insights and observations about the game. Fans can follow them via their Twitter feeds, CarterBlackburn and TBlackburn25.
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