Softball Eagles sweep four in tournament

The Lady Eagles softball team used a five-run fourth inning to finished the weekend with a 4-0 record and claimed its second tournament title of the season with a 7-4 win over in-state rival Jackson State in the night cap on Sunday.

Freshman Beth Dietrich (3-1) earned the win while Gabby Luciani came on to pitch the final 2.0 innings to record her first save. JSU Tynett Sims (1-4) got the loss for Jackson State.

"This was a long day and a long weekend," Coach Howard Dobson said. "We came back trying to go 4-0 to win the championship. Beth Dietrich is still coming back from an injury, but did a good job and had some good innings. We had some errors that cost us some runs. This was not our best defensive day and we got a little bit sloppy.

We kind of went through the motions and we have to do a better job, but we found a way to win."

Southern Miss got on the board first when Megan Hill reached on a catcher's inference call and moved to second on a pass ball. Hill scored when Jill Mathis doubled to center.

The Tigers came back in the top of the second to tie the game up at 1-1 when Jessica Villegas and Delyse Montgomery had back-to-back singles. JSU then loaded the bases with Sims walked. Villegas scored when Qumi Kimble grounded out to short.

Jackson State went ahead 2-1 in the top half of the third whenWendi Reed knocked Kenesha Phillips home from third base with a single.

Leslie LeJune singled to lead off the bottom of the inning, advanced to second and reached third on a throwing error. LeJune later scored on a passed ball to tie the game.

The Eagles plated their final five runs in the fourth inning. After pinch runner Stephanie Shiflet scored on a wild pitch, LeJune drew a walk to load the bases for left fielder Britney Dinelt. Dinelt delivered a line drive double to right center to put three runs across the plate. Dinelt later went to third on a ground out to second and scored on a wild pitch.

Luciani relieved Dietrich to a bases-loaded jam with one out in the sixth inning, and allowed a two-run RBI single before striking out four of the last five batters to end the game.

Southern Miss returns to action next weekend with a trip to the Arkansas Razorback Invitational, Southern Miss opens play against Drake on Friday at 9:30 a.m., followed by a game against Iowa State at 1:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles play Eastern Illinois on Saturday at 9:30 a.m., followed by a 3:30 game against Louisiana-Lafayette and conclude with a game against Arkansas at 1 p.m., Sunday.