Southern Miss
South Alabama
Softball Drops Midweek Game to South Alabama
3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss softball hosted South Alabama on Wednesday evening and the Golden Eagles fell 5-1 to the Jaguars at the Softball Complex.
Southern Miss tallied four hits on the night and were led by Tori Dew who finished 2-for-2 with a double, a RBI, and a walk. Katie Cleary and Bailey Stokes also added hits on the night, while Stokes also reached via a walk. Morgan McKeever, who reached base on an error, scored the only run of the night for the Golden Eagles.
In the circle, the Black and Gold used a trio of pitchers. Danielle Block earned the start and was charged with the loss. The junior allowed two runs on three hits while issuing a walk in 1.2 innings of work. She gave way to Samantha Robles who worked 3.1 innings, surrendering three runs on four hits with a walk. Jillian Johnson closed out the game. The sophomore allowed no runs on one hit and two walks with a strikeout in 2.0 innings. J. Johnson worked her way out of a bases loaded jam with a strikeout looking and inducing an inning-ending double play to escape the inning with no runs scored.
South Alabama was the first team to score, plating a pair of runs in the first inning. The Jaguars placed the first two runners on base with a pair of infield singles. USA moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt. South Alabama used a walk to load the bases. With the bases loaded and one out, the Jaguars used a single to right field to score the first runs of the game. On the play, the ball was mishandled allowing the trail runners to advance to second and third. The Golden Eagles used a pair of groundouts to end the inning and keep the score 2-0.
Southern Miss chipped into the lead with a run in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, McKeever reached on a fielding error by South Alabama. Dew followed with a RBI double to right center field, scoring McKeever and cutting the deficit to 2-1.
The Jaguars added an insurance run in the top of the fourth inning. USA's Kristian Foster tripled off the wall in left field just out of reach of the Golden Eagles' left fielder. The next batter lifted a fly ball to right field for the sacrifice fly.
South Alabama closed out the scoring in the fifth inning. The Jaguars used a leadoff single and a two-run home run by Stephanie Pilkington to push the lead to 5-1.
Southern Miss returns to action this weekend as the Golden Eagles host Conference USA foe UAB in a three-game series. The Golden Eagles and Blazers will play a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1:00 p.m. before closing out the weekend with a single game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. It will be Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend and all fans are encouraged to wear pink. Live stats, live audio, live video, and in-game tweets (@SouthernMissSB) will be available throughout the weekend.
