For the second consecutive night, the Southern Miss Softball Team split a doubleheader with an in-state rival at the Southern Miss Softball Complex. Mississippi State won the opener, 6-2, and the Lady Eagles took the nightcap, 3-0. Melissa Cundiff (5-8) pitched her second shutout of the season in the second game. The sophomore has gone 18 2/3 innings without giving up a win. She gave up six hits and struck out three. Diane Hammes batted three-for-six on the night. In game one, she finished one-for-three, and in the second game, she stroked two-for-three with a double and a run scored.
Kate Jaspers led the Bulldogs in their opening win of the doubleheader. She went two-for-four, with a run scored and three RBIs.
Southern Miss (20-20) claimed the first run in the game one, when Channika Gant scored on a ground out by Laura Davis in the second inning. Mississippi State (23-17) took over the lead in the fourth, scoring four runs that were highlighted by Jaspers’ three-RBI triple. It was her first triple of her career, and the most RBIs she has ever claimed on a single play.
The Lady Eagles got within two, 4-2, in the bottom of the fourth, after Gant’s single allowed pinch-runner Erinne Milligan to go home. Gant finished game one, hitting one-for-three with a run and an RBI.
The Bulldogs added two runs to their advantage. In the fifth, Blair Brown tripled, and Krystal Tillman plated Brown on a sacrifice fly. In the seventh, Tillman recorded another sacrifice fly to score Jaspers. Tillman’s two-game totals were three for five with two RBIs.
Kasey Whitehead (13-8) got the win in game one, coming in relief and pitching two innings. She gave up only one hit. Kellie Wilkerson got the save, her ninth on the year, tossing the final two frames and giving up only a hit. Wilkerson also finished the night, batting three-for-five, with a run, for a two-game total.
Laura Smith sparked the Lady Eagles in the final game, when her single to leftfield scored Tammy Edwards in the bottom of the first for a 1-0 USM lead. Amanda Brown scored Kristie Martin on a single in the second, giving the Lady Eagles a 2-0 advantage. Sarah Boyd doubled to right in the fourth, and Hammes scored on the play to finish the Southern Miss scoring at 3-0.