Southern Miss
Jackson State
Softball Team Wins Own Southern Miss Invitational
2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 28, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss softball team used a five-run fourth inning to finished the weekend with a 4-0 record and claimed its second tournament title of the season with a 7-4 win over in-state rival Jackson State in the night cap.
"This was a long day and a long weekend," Coach Howard Dobson said. "We came back trying to go 4-0 to win the championship. Beth Dietrich is still coming back from an injury, but did a good job and had some good innings. We had some errors that cost us some runs. This was not our best defensive day and we got a little bit sloppy. We kind of went through the motions and we have to do a better job, but we found a way to win."
Freshman Beth Dietrich (3-1) earned the win while Gabby Luciani came on to pitch the final 2.0 innings to record her first save. JSU Tynett Sims (1-4) got the loss for Jackson State.
Southern Miss got on the board first when Megan Hill reached on a catcher's inference call and moved to second on a pass ball. Hill scored when Jill Mathis doubled to center.
The Tigers came back in the top of the second to tie the game up at 1-1 when Jessica Villegas and Delyse Montgomery had back-to-back singles. JSU then loaded the bases with Sims walked. Villegas scored when Qumi Kimble grounded out to short.
After a three up and three down for the Golden Eagles in the bottom half of the frame, Jackson State went ahead 2-1 in the top half of the third when Kenesha Phillips reached base on an error then stole second and advance to third when the ball scooted past the centerfielder. Wendi Reed singled in Phillips before Farren Wright grounded into to a double-play to end the inning.
Southern Miss came back and tied the score in the bottom half of the inning as Leslie LeJune hit a hard liner just past the third base, but the shortstop was able to knock the ball down as LeJune advanced to second and reached third on a throwing error. LeJune scored on a passed ball. The Golden Eagles had runners at second and third but could not push them across.
The Eagles scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth as Alexis Hurley singled to short to reach base. Pinch runner Stephanie Shiflet then stole second and advanced to third on a throw error by the catcher. Lauren Castellvi drew a walk and advanced to second as Shiflet scored on a wild pitch. Alonzo then singled to third. LeJune drew a walk to load the bases before Dinelt laced a double to right center to put three runs across the plate. Dinelt went to third on a ground out to second and scored on a wild pitch.
Jackson State got runs back in the top of the sixth as Phillips was hit by a pitch to start the inning the advanced to second on a bunt single by Reed. The Tigers loaded the bases as Wright reached base on a fielder's choice but as the ball sailed over the head of the third baseman. With no outs, Luciani came on in relief of Dietrich. Villegas singled through the left side to score Phillips and Reed. Luciani then struck out the side, leaving two runners on base.
Luciani retired the final three batters that included two strike outs.
Southern Miss returns to action, traveling to the Razorback Invitational, Mar. 5-7. Southern Miss opens play against Drake on Friday at 9:30 a.m., followed by a game against Iowa State at 1:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles play Eastern Illinois on Saturday at 9:30 a.m., followed by a 3:30 game against Louisiana-Lafayette and concluded the tournament play against Arkansas at 1 p.m., Sunday.
