Southern Miss
Northwestern
Golden Eagles Drop 4-2 Decision to Northwestern
3/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 4, 2011
FULLERTON, Calif. - The Southern Miss softball team dropped its second game of the day with a 4-2 loss to Northwestern in the DeMarini Invitational.
The Golden Eagles dropped to 8-9 while Northwestern improved to 9-5.
"We had a much better showing in the second game," Coach Howard Dobson said. "I thought Courtney Ramos came and had one of her better outings. We just didn't score enough for her. I thought she three well enough to win. We had scoring opportunities and just couldn't push them across. We hit some balls hard. We had better approaches today. Yet, we are still our worst enemy. We are still making far too many errors and costing ourselves runs."
Gabby Luciani (2-2), who came in relief of starter Courtney Ramos, got the loss as she allowed two runs on three hits. Meghan Lamberth (7-0) earned the complete game win as she gave up two runs on six hits and struck out four. Ramos, who was working with a pitch count, pitched five innings, gave up two runs, both unearned, on four hits.
The Golden Eagles put a run on the board in the top half of the inning when Taylor Brown got things started with a base hit up the middle. Jill Mathis followed with a single, then, loaded the bases after Christina Roosmalen grounder to third hit off the glove of the third baseman. Brown scored on a sac fly to left.
Northwestern evened the game 1-1 after Emily Allard reached base on an error, then, stole second. Allard got to third on a wild pitch before crossing home plate on a pass ball.
The Wildcats added a run in the home half of the second with back-to-back singles. The runners moved up 60-feet on a pass. Kelly Quinn scored off a Kristin Scharkey infield single.
In the visitor half of the third, Southern Miss added a run after Brown led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a sac bunt. Roosmalen's ground out move Brown to third and Michelle Takeda singled her home to tie the game at 2-2.
Ramos and Lamberth settled into a rhythm keeping all runners off the base for the next four innings and kept the score tied.
Heading into the sixth with the game tied, Lamberth recorded a second consecutive three-up and three-down against the Eagles.
In the bottom, Northwestern tacked on two runs when Marisa Bast earned a walk aided by two illegal pitches. After Lamberth popped up for the first out, Quinn had a base hit up the middle to move the runner to second. The Eagles made a nice defensive play when Wheeler lined a ball into right, but Takeda was able to get the runner at second as Bast moved to third. Kristin Scharkey, then, singled up the middle to score Bast in putting the Wildcats up, 3-2, moving Wheeler to second. Allard then put down an infield single to load the bases. Northwestern scored its final run when Wheeler was awarded home on another Eagle illegal pitch.
Southern Miss had one final chance in the top of the seventh with two outs, when Lilly reached base on a single to second, but Lamberth got LeJune to ground out to first to end the game.
The Golden Eagles will take the field on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m., central, against Oregon State and finished the day against Cal State Fullerton at 8 p.m.
