Baylor
Southern Miss
Southern Miss Rallies in Eighth, 3-2
8/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 26, 2000
BATON ROUGE, La. - The tenth-ranked Southern Mississippi Lady Eagles (13-6) scored three unearned runs in the bottom of eighth inning to beat Baylor 3-2 in one of the team's best-played games all season.
Channika Gant crushed a home run with two outs and none on for the winning run off Baylor's Sarah Caudle (2-3). As a hitter, Caudle went 3-for-4 and knocked in both runs.
With the international tiebreaker rules for extra inning games, Jennifer Collins was placed on second base to start the inning. Dalenah Tanner then reached second on an error by BU shortstop Stacey Hundley allowing Collins to score. Colleen Spencer then advanced Tanner to third and a groundout by Amy Berman scored Tanner.
This game was a classic pitcher's duel as Caudle and Southern Miss' Courtney Blades held the opposing teams scoreless for seven innings before Caudle helped her own cause by tripling home two runs with two outs in the top eighth.
Baylor had two scoring opportunities earlier in the game as Sarah Sharp and Caudle led off with singles to start the fourth inning. However, Kristen Lancaster and Kelly Fleming struck out and Nan Wilkins then flied out to end the inning. Caudle made it to third base with one out in the sixth with a walk, stolen base and wild pitch, but Lancaster and Fleming struck out to end the threat.
USM's Amy Berman led off the bottom of the first with a single and the Lady Eagles did not get another hit until Chrystal Stevens singled with two outs in the sixth. Caudle had allowed only two baserunners to reach in between on an error by second baseman Vanessa VandeBurgt and a hit batsman.
