University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Mississippi Valley State
Golden Eagle Softball Opens Southern Miss Invitational with a 2-1 Win over Mississippi Valley State
2/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 25, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss softball team opened the Southern Miss Invitational, posting a 2-1 victory over Mississippi State Friday night at the USM Softball Complex.
Gabby Luciani (2-0) picked up the win, pitching 5.2 innings and giving up three hits and one run while striking out six. Beth Dietrich earned her first save of the season as she struck out the batter with the bases loaded to get out of jam. Kim Spivey took the loss for Mississippi Valley as she allowed only four hits and two runs but only one was earned and she struck out four.
"We had plenty opportunities to put runs on the board tonight," Coach Howard Dobson said. "Give her (Spivey) credit for keeping us in check. We have to do a better job of making adjustments, stepping up and driving runs in. Thank goodness our pitching came through tonight. Gabby did a great job of holding them down, making her pitches when she needed to and hitting her spots. Beth came in and closed the door. Kudos to our pitchers for sure. But, we have to be better. It's disappointing how we came out after the way we played against Mississippi State and we didn't respond offensively. Very few times you come out like that offensively and get a W, but tonight we did. Tomorrow is a new day and we'll come back and get after it again."
The Golden Eagles put a run on the board in the home half after leadoff hitter Leslie LeJune drew a walk to start things off and stole second. Taylor Brown also drew a walk. Both runners moved up on a pass ball. LeJune scored on a failed pick-off attempt as the ball sailed into left field.
Southern Miss added another run in the second was Britney Dinelt opened the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Chanell Thurman. Dinelt scored on an RBI single from Brittany Lilly.
After a scoreless third inning, Mississippi Valley opened the fourth with a walk. Rashundra Brass reached base on a fielder's choice and stole second. Alexandria Robertson grounded out to third as Brass moved to third, then, came home on a wild pitch.
Southern Miss threatened in the fourth after Dinelt was hit by a pitch to start the inning and advanced to second on the sac bunt. Mackenzie advanced to second on an error by the left fielder and moved Dinelt to third. But Spivey was able to get the final two batters on consecutive pop ups to the infield.
Luciani retired the first two Valley batters on strikeouts before giving up a single to Brass. She moved to second on a pass ball. Valley loaded the bases on back-to-back walks and the Golden Eagles were forced to make a pitching change. Dietrich got the final out on a strikeout.
The Golden Eagle defense stiffened in the seventh as Shana Ladner singled to right, but Southern Miss was able to turn a double-play to empty the bases. Spivey then had a pinch hit single, but Dietrich ended the game with her second strikeout of the game.
Both teams return to action tomorrow as the Southern Miss Invitational continues with Nicholls State and Troy at 9 a.m., followed by Mississippi Valley and Troy at 11:30 a.m., Southern Miss and Nicholls State will play at 2 p.m., with the Golden Eagles taking on Evansville at 4:30 p.m. The final game of the day is slated for 7 p.m., with Evansville facing Mississippi Valley.
