BATON ROUGE — Second-seeded Southern Miss got a bases-loaded single in the third and a solo home run in the fourth to defeat fifth-seeded Oregon, 3-0, the second game of the NCAA Regional Softball Tournament at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge.
Southern Miss improved to 58-10 on the season and advanced to play fourth-seeded Hofstra at 7 p.m. Friday. Oregon fell to 34-28 on the season and will play the loser of the LSU-Northwestern State game Friday at 1 p.m. CDT.
Southern Miss starter Courtney Blades (47-5)pitched seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and three walks while allowing only four hits.
The Lady Eagles scored its first two runs off of Oregon starter Connie McMurren in the bottom of the third inning on a bases-loaded single by sophomore Erin Johnson.
USM increased its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run by catcher Kenya Peters.
McCurren received the loss and fell to 15-18 on the season.
The third game of the first day will be top-seeded LSU against Northwestern State at 7 p.m. Hofstra upset UL-Lafayette in the first game of the day, 2-1.