Southern Miss
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Mississippi State
Softball Team Falls to Mississippi State, 14-4
3/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 17, 2010
 Chanell Thurman was 2-for-4 at the plate  | |
"Even though this was a big game for us playing Mississippi State, we wanted to work some pitchers in trying to get them ready for conference especially with the conference series we were coming off on because we didn't play very well," Coach Howard Dobson said. "With our pitching staff, I wanted to get everyone to throw. With the long break we are going have, we figured we could get our pitchers to throw as much as possible."
State's Misty Flesher (7-4) got the win for the Bulldogs as she gave up four runs on six hits, but only two were earned while Southern Miss' Gabby Luciani (4-3) took the loss for the Golden Eagles, giving up six runs on five hits.
Southern Miss threatened in the bottom half of the first when Britney Dinelt singled up the middle. Megan Hill then doubled to left center, but Dinelt was thrown out at plate attempting to score from first.
State put two runs on the board in the second as Jessie Bailey doubled to left and advanced to third on a single by Courtney Nesbit. Nesbit then stole second. Luciani retired the next batter, but Erin Nesbit doubled to center field, scoring Bailey and Courtney Nesbit.
In the bottom half of the frame, Logan James led off the inning with a double, but the Eagles could not push the run across as Flesher retired the next three batters.
Both teams failed to score in the third inning. However, State did get two runners on.
Lana Vaughn came on to pitch for the Eagles in the fourth. Courtney Nesbit started the inning with a single before the Bulldogs loaded the bases after drawing two straight walks. Jessica Cooley then hit a deep fly ball to right that scored pinch runner Allie Heron. Chelsea Bramlett then singled and advanced to second on throw as Ali Bainbridge and Erin Nesbit scored.
Luciani re-entered the game to pitch, but State was not done yet. Bramlett stole third and Jessica Spain reached base on an error and advance to second as Bramlett scored. State loaded the bases as Bell was hit by a pitch and Kaili Smith and Bailey drew back-to-back walks to push Spain across.
The Golden Eagle used their third pitcher of the game when Beth Dietrich came on in relief of Luciani. With the bases loaded, Courtney Nesbit singled to score Bell and Smith. State capped off the inning when Erin singled to center score Bailey.
"That fourth inning was a big inning and we wished we had some things go our way, a break here or there, but they are a good team," Dobson said. "Our team showed some fight. In years past we probably would have hung that up and it would have been 10-0 in five. Then all of a sudden we hit a home run and come back and score two more to get rid of that run-rule. Then we come back and score another run later to give ourselves a chance and give ourselves some fight. Then they score four more on us. We have to do a better job of getting our pitching staff to close some doors because they scored some runs with two outs. We also have to go a better job when we get runners on base to put the ball in play and do a better job with hitter's count to drive the ball. We have to do a better job defensively which has been our Achilles heel lately. Out defense has let us down. We have had too many errors and too many ball misplayed in the outfield. We just have to do a better job of continuing to work them and get them better defensively."
Southern Miss got its first run of the game in the bottom half of the inning as Hill hit a solo home run, her seventh of the season, over the left.
The Eagles added two more runs on the bottom of the fifth to keep the game from being a run-rule game as Alexis Hurley reached base on an error and Chanell Thurman doubled to left center to put runners at second and third with no outs. Brandi Alonzo then reached base as the second baseman could not hang on to a low-hanging pop-up behind first as pinch runners Kirsten Perry and Casey Jo Matthews crossed the plate.
Southern Miss scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth when Danielle LaPointe singled to right. Hurley then grounded out to second as pinch runner Stephanie Shiflet advanced to second. Thurman then singled down the left field line to plate Shiflet. Alonzo followed with a single to put runners at first and second, but the Eagles could not push any more runs across. The Bulldogs scored four runs in the seventh with two outs when Bramlett reach base on an error and Spain hit a two-run homer over left. Bell singled and advanced to second on a fielder's choice by Smith. Bailey then doubled sending both runs home.
The Eagles got a base runner in the bottom of the seventh when Dinelt led off with a double to center and Hill drew a walk, but the Bulldog reliever Kylie Vry was able to retire the next three batters to end the game.
Mississippi State out-hit the Golden Eagles 14-to-9 and both teams committed two errors.
Southern Miss returns to action on Mar. 24 when the Golden Eagles travel to Thibodaux, La., to play Nicholls State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
