Southern Miss
Western Kentucky
Southern Miss Softball Drops Doubleheader at WKU
4/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Two schedule changes over the weekend did not help Southern Miss' cause in its weekend series at WKU, falling 11-6 in the opener and 4-1 in the nightcap on Monday night.
The two teams initially meant to play a Saturday doubleheader and Sunday single game, but inclement weather pushed each back a day. More bad luck caused the series to come down to Monday.
The Golden Eagles (24-25, 7-13 C-USA) drew 11 walks and struck out just twice in the 14 innings. They will next host Charlotte on Saturday and Sunday for their final regular-season home games. Saturday's 1 p.m. doubleheader features pregame senior presentations, and Sunday's game is at noon with Pediatric Cancer Day.
WKU 11, Southern Miss 6
The Golden Eagles set the tone early when Samantha Reynolds fought a full-count single through the right side to lead things off. The next three batters then reached on an error, hit-by-pitch and RBI single by Tori Dew. Arielle Pollock later plated the next run on a four-pitch walk, and two batters later, Tori Rouse drove in another two runs on a double. Rachel Johnson continued the inning with a full-count walk, all before Reynolds stepped up with an RBI single, her second knock of the opening frame.
It was a 6-0 Southern Miss lead.
Brittany Vaughn homered with one out in the bottom of the first to put WKU on the board, and then WKU added three more runs in the second by way of two RBI singles and a first-third, double steal. Another one-out solo shot in the third inning put the Lady Toppers within 6-5.
Six runs came across in the bottom of the fourth that finished the scoring for the day, as three singles and doubles apiece did the damage with one out in the inning.
Jillian Johnson took the loss after allowing four hits and four earned runs in an inning's work. Samantha Robles got the starting nod and ultimately finished the game in relief of Danielle Block, retiring the final two batters of the fourth inning and facing the minimum the rest of the way.
Holifield and Reynolds each had multi-hit games, their 11th and fifth of the season, respectively.
WKU 4, Southern Miss 1
Vaughn doubled with one out, and the next two batters singled and stole second. The latter one came with runners on first-and-third, and an obstruction call allowed the run to score for a 2-0, first-inning lead.
Another single and stolen base helped WKU to a 3-0 lead in the third, this time with Jordan Mauch finding a spot in right field on her base hit.
Southern Miss was down, but not out in the fourth despite an 0-2 count with two outs. Chase Nelson, however, battled back to force a nine-pitch walk that moved everyone forward 90 feet. The Golden Eagles found their way into the situation thanks to back-to-back walks to Bailey Stokes and Rachel Johnson and then a fielding error by the second basemen, all after the first two batters of the inning were retired.
WKU (26-23, 10-10 C-USA) took back the run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth.
Kim Crowson lasted four innings as the starter and was charged with the loss, allowing seven hits. Robles relieved and allowed one base runner over the final two innings.
