CCU

Softball Defeats Southern Miss 7-5; Falls to Ole Miss 4-1

           

Softball Defeats Southern Miss 7-5; Falls to Ole Miss 4-1

     OXFORD, Miss. – The Coastal Carolina University softball team finished day two of the Red and Blue Classic losing to host Ole Miss 4-1. Coastal then picked up a 7-3 victory over Southern Mississippi.   The Lady Rebels took an early lead off a double from Mary Jane Callahan in the first inning going on top 1-0. Ole Miss then scored two runs in the third going on top of CCU 3-0.   The Lady Chants went five innings without a hit until Senior Kimberly Cillis (Magnolia, Texas/Magnolia) put a ground ball between the first and second basemen to record the first Chanticleer hit.   In the top of the sixth, Danyelle Gerdts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) singled to up the middle bringing junior Allison Cantrell (McDonough, Ga./Eagle’s Landing) up next. Cantrell smacked a double into right field sending Gerdts home and scoring the first and only Coastal score.   In the bottom of the sixth, the Rebels increased the lead to 4-1 when Ashley Dowdy homered over the left field fence.   To open the seventh, Brittany Birnbaum (Chino Hills, Calif./Ayala) reached first on an error by the third baseman. Kelsey Riffel (Wichita, Kan./Maize) then landed on base with a shot down the middle, but couldn’t get passed the Ole Miss defense and fell to the Lady Rebels with a final score of 4-1.   In game two, Kristina Sheppard (Galveston, Texas/Ball) hit her fourth homerun of the tournament in the third inning to put the Lady Chants on top of the Golden Eagles 2-0.   Southern Miss scored one run in the third bringing the score to 2-1, but CCU responded with a two scores in the fourth. Alicia Irwin (Salina, Kan./Salina South) doubled down the left line for an RBI and increased the Coastal lead to 3-2. Erika Trujillo (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge (Northern Colorado)) then put a shot into left field that scored a run and brought the score to 4-2 at the end of four innings.   In the fifth, USM’s Logan James hit a deep homerun over the left field fence narrowing the Coastal lead to just 4-3 before heading into the second half of the inning.   With Glynn Tolleson (Tomball, Texas/Tomball (Radford)) and Riffel on, Irwin recorded her second RBI of the contest with a base hit. Gerdts then increased the CCU lead to 7-3 with a hit up the middle to score both Riffel and Irwin.   In the seventh, Southern Miss made a push scoring two runs, but the Chanticleer defense held strong for the 7-5 victory.   The Lady Chants with a record of 5-12 will wrap up the tournament on Sunday, Mar. 4 taking on Kennesaw State at 11:00 a.m.