Southern Miss
Central Arkansas
Softball Eagles Split Opening Day of Coca-Cola Classic
2/11/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 11, 2012
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss Softball team split the opening day of the Southern Miss Coca-Cola Classic to open their season with a 1-1 record under new co-head coaches Jon Malgradi and Kirsten Voak.
"We were incredibly proud of the way the team responded on the first day of play," said Voak. "They set their minds on victory and came back to win it. They will continue to get better and we look forward to watching them grow and perfect their game."
In the day's opener, the Golden Eagles fell to Central Arkansas 7-1 led by Kasey Britt, who finished the day going 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run and two runs scored.
Southern Miss closed the day on a high note and got their first victory of the season in walk-off fashion against Rhode Island as Brittany Lilly was able to push the ball far enough down the third base line to bring in a sprinting Leslie LeJune from third to give the Black and Gold the 5-4 victory after eight innings.
Game 1:
Central Arkansas rattled off three runs in the first inning as Britt led off with a single followed by an Ashley Boswell double to make it a 2-0 and another run walked in after a bases loaded situation.
The Bears added a pair of runs in the second off back-to-back roundtrippers from Britt and Melissa Bryant and padded their lead in the third and sixth with single runs.
Southern Miss' lone score of the game came in the third inning when Stephanie Shiflet stole a pair of bases to end up on third and came home on a groundout by Mackenzie Sher to the right side.
The Golden Eagles were unable to put any more runs on the board as Beth Dietrich suffered the loss after six innings of work, giving up nine hits and striking out six.
Game 2:
Southern Miss rallied from three runs down in the bottom of the seventh to force an extra inning where they took away the victory.
Rhode Island got hot in the second inning and put up four runs behind a five hit performance from the middle of their lineup. A pair of singles put the Rams on the board first and a Brittany Julich double gave Rhody a 2-0 lead. The visitors built their lead with two more singles and led 4-0 after the half-inning.
In the bottom half of the second, Sher took the first pitch she saw over the scoreboard for her first home run of the season.
Rhode Island's Cara Martin kept the Golden Eagle bats cold through the final five innings but ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh before being removed in exchange for Cassie Baker.
Baker inherited a bases-loaded, no-out situation with a three run lead and managed to get the first Golden Eagle she faced to strike out. A fielding error by the shortstop off the bat of Chanell Thurman kept the game alive with two outs as Madison Edwards came in to make it 4-2.
Sher singled and brought in Omeshia Moffett and Stephanie Shiflet to tie the game up at 4-4.
The Golden Eagles escaped the top of the eighth without allowing a run and came out on top in the bottom of the frame off Lilly's hit to the right side.
Southern Miss returns to action tomorrow to close out the tournament with game times at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Rhode Island and Central Arkansas will also open the day at 9 a.m. when they square off for the final time.
