University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Kennesaw State
Golden Eagle Softball Team Split Games In Mizuno Classic
2/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 12, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss softball team split games on the day in the Annual Mizuno Classic, winning its season-opener against Central Arkansas, 5-1, before losing in the nightcap, 9-4, to Kennesaw State.
Beth Dietrich (1-0) earned the win for the Golden Eagles as she scattered six hits going the distance while striking out six and allowing just one walk. Kelly Martino (0-1) got the loss for Central Arkansas (0-2).
Southern Miss opened the first inning scoring three runs as Leslie LeJune led off the inning with a double. With one out, Michelle Takeda singled to center and advanced on the throw as LeJune came around to score. Takeda took third on a wild pitch and then, Jill Mathis hit a line drive to the shortstop, who knocked it down, to keep Takeda from scoring. Mathis stole second before Dinelt tripled to right, plating Takeda and Mathis.
The Golden Eagles added a run in the second when Stephanie Shiflet started a two-out rally, singling through the left side then stole second. After Takeda reached base after being hit by a pitch, Shiflet stole third and came home on an errand throw by the catcher.
Southern Miss added its final run in the top-half of the third when Dinelt doubled to center. After a pitching change, Takeda drew a walk, and then Chanell Thurman doubled down the left field line, plating Dinelt. UCA's Newsome retired the next two batters with a runner at third.
UCA got a run back in the bottom half when Taylor Dear singled up the middle. Pinch runner Lindsey Barsoum advanced to second on a bunt single by Kelvon Greer. Dietrich retired the next two batters before Kasey Britt had an RBI single up the middle to score Barsoum from second.
For the remainder of the game, neither team got a runner past second.
Dinelt finished with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate against UCA, while five other Golden Eagles had a hit.
"All in all, I think it was a learning day," Coach Howard Dobson said. "It was one of those days, where we came out really hot against Central Arkansas and set a tone the very first game. We came out swing the bats, jumped on them early and Beth came in and shut the door the very first inning. So we set a tone offensively and defensively and that's what we have been preaching. We got some balls hit hard, they changed their pitchers out and we didn't get some adjustments. Again, it's early in the season. We got a win there. Beth threw really well and got to see our freshmen swing the bat."
Game two was a much different story for the Golden Eagles. Kennesaw State scored runs in the first four innings in defeating Southern Miss, 9-4.
Courtney Ramos (0-1) took the loss after lasting only 1.2 innings, giving up five runs, but only three were earned.
"We came back against Kennesaw State and it was a very auspicious start to say the least," Dobson said. "They kind of jumped out there on us and caught us on our heels. Their leadoff hitter came out and hit the ball pretty hard right off the bat and that kind of shock us a little bit. All of a sudden before we knew it, it was 2-0. The wheels fall off and we drop some fly balls. We have to do a better job defensively. We gave them some runs. Ramos didn't have her best day, but it was nice to see when we made the change to our freshman pitcher, Kelly Smith, she came in and did her job. She gave us fly balls and we didn't catch them. Once we got past that and we relaxed a little bit, we started see our at-bats get better. We started to see ourselves progress and grow. We got ourselves back into the game. Jill hit a big home run, and we hit three or four balls hard right in a row and pushed a couple of runs across. Now, we were in striking distance. We gave ourselves a chance at it, we just fell short."
KSU got two runs in the first, three in the second and three in the third to take an 8-0 lead after two-and-a half innings and freshman pitcher Catherine Tarvin (1-0) allowed only two hits in the first three innings to earn the win.
The Golden Eagles scored a run in the home half of the third with two outs when Shiflet reached base on an error and advanced to second on a Takeda single up the middle. Mathis loaded the bases after reaching base on another error. Shiflet scored when Dinelt's hit was mishandled at third and all the runners were safe. Tarvin got herself out of the jam, getting Mackenzie to ground out for the third out.
KSU got the run back in the fourth when Lindsay Vollmer led off with a triple and scored on a single.
The Golden Eagles would add a run in the bottom of the fifth on a solo shot over left center by Mathis. Southern Miss added two more in the sixth when Christina Roosmalen started a one-out rally with a double down the right field line. Thurman had a hard-hit ball knocked down by the shortstop for a single. Roosmalen came around to score off a Taylor Brown double and Thurman went to third. The Owls had a pitching change, but LeJune hit a deep fly ball to center to score Thurman.
Thurman recorded two of the Eagles' six hits.
All three teams are back in action Sunday with Kennesaw State taking on Central Arkansas at 11 a.m., followed by Kennesaw State and Southern Miss at 1:30 p.m., and the Golden Eagles and Central Arkansas will conclude the Classic at 4 p.m.
