Thursday, May 1
Lafayette, La. / Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park
6 p.m.
Southern Miss
at
Louisiana
Softball Concludes Regular Season with Final Road Series At Louisiana
4/30/2025 10:30:00 AM | Softball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss Softball (23-25, 10-10 Sun Belt) wraps up its regular season with a three-game road series against Louisiana (25-24, 11-10 Sun Belt), beginning Thursday at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park in Lafayette.
The Golden Eagles are coming off a series win over App State, taking the first two games to climb in the conference standings. Southern Miss closed out its home schedule with 16 wins at the Southern Miss Softball Complex—the program's most since 2019.
With three games remaining, Southern Miss sits eighth in the Sun Belt standings, aiming to improve its seed ahead of next week's Sun Belt Championship in Troy.
Thursday, May 1 – 6 p.m.
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Friday, May 2 – 6 p.m.
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Saturday, May 3 – 2 p.m.
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Southern Miss prepares to face a Louisiana team returning from a series win against Texas State in San Marcos, Texas. While the Bobcats forced a rubber match, the Ragin' Cajuns held onto an early lead for a 4-3 win on Sunday.
Southern Miss Notes
The Golden Eagles are coming off a series win over App State, taking the first two games to climb in the conference standings. Southern Miss closed out its home schedule with 16 wins at the Southern Miss Softball Complex—the program's most since 2019.
With three games remaining, Southern Miss sits eighth in the Sun Belt standings, aiming to improve its seed ahead of next week's Sun Belt Championship in Troy.
- ULM – 14–7 (34–18 overall) – Lost 2
- Texas State – 13–8 (31–18 overall) – Lost 1
- Coastal Carolina – 12–9 (36–15 overall) – Won 1
- Georgia Southern – 12–9 (28–22 overall) – Won 1
- Marshall – 12–9 (28–22 overall) – Lost 1
- Louisiana – 11–10 (25–24 overall) – Won 1
- App State – 11–10 (21–25 overall) – Won 1
- Southern Miss – 10–10 (23–25 overall) – Lost 1
- Troy – 10–11 (31–22 overall) –Won 1
- James Madison – 9–12 (23–24 overall) – Lost 1
- South Alabama – 8–12 (19–29 overall) – Won 2
- Georgia State – 3–18 (11–36 overall) – Lost 3
Thursday, May 1 – 6 p.m.
ESPN+: Watch Live | Live Stats
Friday, May 2 – 6 p.m.
ESPN+: Watch Live | Live Stats
Saturday, May 3 – 2 p.m.
ESPN+: Watch Live | Live Stats
Southern Miss prepares to face a Louisiana team returning from a series win against Texas State in San Marcos, Texas. While the Bobcats forced a rubber match, the Ragin' Cajuns held onto an early lead for a 4-3 win on Sunday.
Southern Miss Notes
- Freshman outfielder Hannah Christian led the Golden Eagles against App State with five hits, five RBI and three runs scored. Christian knocked three extra-base hits, including two home runs in Saturday's series-clinching win and her second career triple in the bottom of the seventh of Sunday's game. Christian became the first Golden Eagle to homer twice in a game since program home run leader Hannah Borden accomplished the feat on March 30, 2024, at Troy. Christian batted at .556 in the series with a 1.444 slugging percentage and tallied 13 total bases, all team-highs. She hit safely in each game of the series, extending her current hitting streak to five games.
- Christian has hit safely in 22 of her last 24 games, and in all but one conference game this season. Her 28 hits in Sun Belt play rank first among true freshmen and are tied for the second-most in the league. She eclipsed the 50-hit mark this weekend, becoming the first freshman to do so since senior Jana Lee in 2022.
- Freshman pitcher Kayla Giardina registered a 1.50 ERA in two complete games against the Mountaineers last weekend. Giardina logged her second consecutive complete game shutout to begin the series Friday, throwing 111 pitches while allowing five hits and one walk with four strikeouts to blank App State 3-0. With the outing, Giardina became the first Golden Eagle to throw consecutive complete game shutouts since Morgan Leinstock accomplished the feat against Jackson State and Mississippi State in 2022. Giardina followed her performance on Sunday with another complete game, giving up just four hits and three runs across seven innings with three strikeouts.
- Giardina surpassed 100 innings pitched this season, becoming the first Southern Miss freshman to reach the milestone since Samantha Robles in 2014. Her 77 strikeouts this season pace the team and rank second among freshmen in the Sun Belt, only behind Georgia Southern's Maddie Johnson.
- Jana Lee continues to climb the program's all-time doubles list, surpassing her former teammate Hannah Borden, and now tied with Sarah Evans for the fourth most doubles in program history (39). Lee is three doubles away from tying the program record of 42, set by Tata Davis.
- Tata Davis- 42 Doubles (231 games)
- Ashley Davis- 41 Doubles (240 games)
- Megan Hill- 40 Doubles (220 games)
- Sarah Evans- 39 Doubles (215 games)
T4 Jana Lee- 39 Doubles (183 games)
- Hannah Borden- 38 Doubles (224 games)
- Lee ranks fourth in the Sun Belt with 15 walks in conference play. Her 76 career walks also rank as the seventh most in program history.
- Lee has also moved up in the RBI leaderboards, tied for fifth most in program history with 111 career RBI.
- Megan Hill: 151 (220 games)
- Hannah Borden: 150 (224 games)
- Tata Davis: 149 (231 games)
- Jennifer Fox: 118 (238 games)
- Kenya Peters: 111 (253 games)
T5: Jana Lee: 111 (183 games)
- Lee and Giardina are the first Golden Eagle duo to each pitch 100 or more innings since Samantha Robles and Kim Crawson in 2018.
- Senior Maddie Weeks' ten sacrifice hits are the fifth most in the conference this season.
- Southern Miss is one of seven Sun Belt programs ranked within the Top 100 RPI in the nation at No. 98. The Sun Belt currently boasts the No. 6 conference RPI in the nation, trailing only the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and AAC.
- The Golden Eagles have won four conference series this season, which is their most since 2016, and are seeking a fifth for the first time since 2004, the year they won the Conference USA regular season title.
- The team's 23 overall wins and 10 Sun Belt wins are both tied for the most under Head Coach Natalie Poole.
- Louisiana is led by first-year head coach Alyson Habetz. Habetz served as the associate head coach for Alabama from 2008-2023 and is a former Ragin' Cajuns player.
- Maddie Hayden leads the Ragin' Cajuns with 57 hits this season. Freshman Emily Smith leads the team with 26 in conference play, including seven home runs (4th Sun Belt). She has a total of 12 home runs this season and 40 RBI, which rank as the seventh most in the league.
- Mallory Wheeler leads the Ragin' Cajuns with a 10-8 record in 28 appearances, tossing 112 innings with 70 strikeouts and a 4.87 ERA. Sam Ryan leads the team with a 4.30 ERA.
- Louisiana leads the all-time series 51-5. Southern Miss last won against Louisiana in 2017, winning both games of a doubleheader against the No. 11 ranked Ragin' Cajuns.
Players Mentioned
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/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
RHP
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INF
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