Herd Homers Past Southern Miss on Sunday

Sunday, March 17

Huntington, W.Va.

11:00 AM

Southern Miss

Marshall

Herd Homers Past Southern Miss on Sunday

3/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball

March 18, 2013

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - Southern Miss battled through muddy field conditions to tie the game heading into the seventh inning, but the second homer of the day for Marshall gave the home squad an 8-6 win on Sunday.

With the victory, Marshall (14-12, 3-3 C-USA) completed the series sweep over Southern Miss (10-20, 0-6 C-USA)

True freshman Jenifer Gary got her first career hit and did it in big time fashion, breaking open the scoring for the Golden Eagles with a two-run homer to right field.

In the bottom of the frame, the rain and snow mix began to fall heavily and gave Southern Miss pitcher Emily Wood a wet ball and glove to work with, contributing to three walks and two wild pitches that lead to the tying runs in the inning.

The weather continued to dampen the field and led to Williamson issuing a pair of walks to lead off the top of the third before a passed ball moved the runners over without Southern Miss never moving the bat off their shoulders. However, Morgan McKeever broke the streak and on her second swing, sent the ball out of the yard, just inside the left field line for a three-run homer, her second of the season.

Marshall added a rain-aided solo run in the bottom of the third, making each of the first three runs scored off batters that reached by walk and advanced on at least one wild pitch, but Alysia Hively broke that streak with a three-run homer to give the Herd the lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Southern Miss tied the game back up in the sixth as a pair of errors led to Danielle LaPointe ending up on third, and in a failed pinch bunt situation, the senior came screaming in to effectively steal home and knot the game at 6-6.

In the seventh, the Golden Eagles had a chance to plate the go-ahead run but a mix up on the bases lead to an unconventional double play, and after a LaPointe single through the right side, right fielder Savanah Webster threw out a Golden Eagle runner at home to maintain the tie game.

Hively did it again though in the seventh, walking the Herd off with a two-run homer to take the 8-6 victory and series sweep.

Beth Dietrich (0-6) suffered the loss in relief while Williamson picked up her third win of the weekend.

Southern Miss is back on the diamond next weekend when they host C-USA foe UTEP in a three-game set at the Southern Miss Softball Complex beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

To get the most up-to-date information on Southern Miss Softball, follow the team on Twitter at @USMSoftball, get live stats via the Gametracker platform, or like Southern Miss Softball on Facebook.