Southern Miss
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Mississippi State
Southern Miss Drops a Close One to State, 6-4
2/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 23, 2011
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State's Heide Shape hit a two-run home run in the bottom on the sixth in leading Mississippi State past Southern Miss, 6-4, in a mid-week contest in Starkville Wednesday evening.
Kelly Smith (1-1) took the loss for the Golden Eagles (5-5) in going the distance while striking out seven batters. MSU's Kylie Vry (2-3) earned the win in relief as she worked the final 4.1 innings and giving only one earned run.
"I thought we fought hard and had a lot of quality at-bats," Coach Howard Dobson said. "We hit the ball hard, but it was right at somebody. I thought Kelly threw well, she only had three walks. We had a couple of miscues, but other than that I thought we were right there."
The Bulldogs threatened in the bottom of the first when State loaded the bases and Smith got the final out with a strikeout.
The Golden Eagles were the first team to push a run across in the top of the second. Michelle Takeda singled to left center and scored from first when Chanell Thurman delivered a 1-1 pitch to the same spot for a double.
Mississippi State responded in the home half of the inning scoring two runs with one out on a two-RBI double by Ali Bainbridge.
Southern Miss added a couple of runs in the top half of the third with two outs as Taylor Brown drew a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jill Mathis also walked before Christina Roosmalen had an RBI base hit up the middle to push Brown across. Takeda recorded her second hit of the game in plating Mathis. After a State pitching change, Dinelt lined out for the final out.
The Bulldogs matched the Eagles with two runs of their won in the bottom in taking a 4-3 lead, courtesy of the two Eagle errors.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Leslie LeJune recorded her first home run of the season on a solo blast over right to tie the game at 4-4.
USM threatened in the top of sixth as Britney Dinelt reached with a walk and moved to second on a base hit by Thurman. The Bulldog defense stiffened getting an out on a fielder's choice that left runners at the corners, but State's right fielder ran down a hard hit by Brittany Lilly to get Vry out of the inning.
In the home half of the sixth with one out, Brittany Gates legged out a double and moved to third on a ground out. With two out, Shape sent a 1-0 pitch over left to give the Bulldogs a 6-4 lead.
The Eagles had the top of the order due in the visitor's half of the seventh. LeJune was retired on a ground out to first. Brown battled at the plate, but was out after a line drive hit off the pitcher who was able to make the throw to first for the out. Southern Miss got its first base runner in the inning when Mathis drew a walk, before State's shortstop snatched Roosmalen's line drive for the final out.
Southern Miss returns home to host the Southern Miss Invitational, beginning Friday with a game against Mississippi Valley State at 6 p.m. The tournament continues on Saturday with five games on tap and concludes Sunday with four games. The schedule is as follows:
Friday February 25, 20116:00 p.m. Mississippi Valley State vs. Southern Miss
Saturday February 26, 20119:00 a.m. Nicholls State vs. Troy11:30 a.m. Mississippi Valley State vs. Troy2:00 p.m. Nicholls State vs. Southern Miss4:30 p.m. Evansville vs. Southern Miss7:00 p.m. Evansville vs. Mississippi Valley State
Sunday February 27, 201110:00 a.m. Nicholls State vs. Evansville12:30 p.m. Troy vs. Evansville3:00 p.m. Nicholls State vs. Mississippi Valley State5:30 p.m. Troy vs. Southern Miss
