University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Softball to Host No. 4 Alabama on Tuesday
4/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss softball team returns home Tuesday night for a game against nationally-ranked Alabama at the Softball Complex. The Golden Eagles host the No. 4 Crimson Tide at 6:00 p.m.
The game is deemed "Go Gold Night" and all fans in attendance are encouraged to wear gold. In addition, the first 100 fans receive a gold t-shirt and the next 200 fans receive a gold pom.
Live stats and in-game tweets (@SouthernMissSB) will be available throughout the game, while Drew Granger will handle the play-by-play duties for the Golden Eagles via the live video stream on southernmiss.com/allaccess.
Southern Miss enters the week with a 20-22 overall record, while Alabama is 35-7.
Southern Miss is led offensively by Tori Dew. The junior is batting .353 on the year (42-for-119) with 11 doubles, two home runs, 18 runs scored, and 18 RBI. She has also drawn a team-best 25 walks for an on-base clip of .476.
Dew is joined by fellow transfer Lauren Holifield in the power department. The junior has belted a team-high eight home runs and is just two dingers shy of becoming the first player since Jill Mathis in 2011 to record double-digit home runs. Holifield is pacing the team with a .559 slugging percentage.
Morgan McKeever, who is batting .315, leads the team with 45 base hits, while Holifield and Katie Cleary lead the team with 27 and 25 RBI, respectively.
In the circle, Samantha Robles leads the team in wins (12), ERA (3.25), innings pitched (135.2), and strikeouts (74). The redshirt sophomore picked up a pair of victories over the weekend tossing a pair of complete games, allowing just one run in each and facing just five batters over the minimum.
Robles is joined in the circle by Jillian Johnson. The sophomore has allowed just two earned runs -- both on the road against No. 8 LSU -- in her last eight outings. In that span, J. Johnson has lowered her ERA 3.79 points.
The Golden Eagles and the Crimson Tide have met nine times on the softball diamond with Bama posting a 7-2 overall record in those games. The two teams have met just three times in Hattiesburg with the Black and Gold earning a 3-2 victory on Feb. 22, 2006.
The first meeting came during the 2000 Women's College World Series with Southern Miss notching a 3-0 victory.
Last season, Michelle Stringer hit a solo home run to make the Golden Eagles the only team from the state of Mississippi to score on the Crimson Tide, however, Alabama claimed the victory.
