Southern Miss
Arkansas
Golden Eagle Softball Team Loses Heartbreaker, 2-1
3/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 7, 2010
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Southern Miss softball team lost a heart-breaker, 2-1, to host Arkansas in the final game of the Razorback Invitational Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles dropped to 12-6 on the season while Arkansas improved to 11-8. Gabby Luciani (4-2) took the loss striking out a season-high 11 batters, also walked six including the winning run. Arkansas' Hope MeLemore (6-3) worked the final 4.2 innings allowed only runner on base and retired the final 12 batters including seven Ks to get the win.
"Today's game we opened up really well offensively and jumped out when Leslie LeJune leads off with a home run to put us up 1-0," Coach Dobson said. "We had some opportunities to blow the game open but we miss those opportunities. They ended up bring their ace in after we load the base with one out and she got them out of that jam. We capitalize on those opportunities there and put a couple of runs on the board then it might be a different story."
Southern Miss put a run on the scoreboard in the first inning when Leslie LeJune recorded her second home run with a solo shot to right. Starting pitcher Chelsea Cohen gave up a run and all three hits. The Golden Eagles got back-to-back singles in the top of the third and eventually loaded the bases, but after an Arkansas pitching change, McLemore retired the side with two strikeouts.
"Gabby came out and pitched well enough to win," Dobson said. "She got herself in a couple of binds but got herself out of them. She pitched well enough we just didn't do anything offensively to help her. We didn't get the outcome we wanted but I thought we fought hard. I much more pleased with the way we played our last three games as opposed to how we started. We just didn't get the breaks today."
Arkansas tied the game in the bottom half of the frame with two outs when Jessica Bachkora was hit by a pitch then stole second. Brittany Griffiths drew a walk and Sandra Smith singled to center to plate Bachkora.
The Razorbacks loaded the bases in fourth, but Luciani was able to wiggle out of the jam aided by two strikeouts.
McLemore continued to keep the Golden Eagle bats silent for the remainder of the game. Smith started the seventh with a double to right center. Luciani got Dixon to ground out to third and Breault to line out to third. The Razorbacks then drew three consecutive walks to push the final run across the plate for the 2-1 win.
Southern Miss returns home to host Jackson State in a mid-week double header Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
