HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The No. 25 LSU softball team was handed its sixth straight loss in a 7-0 setback to Southern Miss Wednesday at the USM Softball Complex.
The Golden Eagles (9-13) received a four-hit shutout from Beth Dietrich in the circle to end LSU’s (15-11) 17-game winning streak in the series dating back to the 2001 season. The sophomore right-hander notched five strikeouts against two walks to move to 4-6 on the season.
“We’re a team that’s lost in the desert right now, and we have to battle our way through this rough stretch,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We need some leadership to step up from within the team and get our confidence back.”
Southern Miss took advantage of a Leslie LeJune leadoff walk during the first inning. She advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Michelle Takeda.
In the second inning, Brittany Lilly connected for a solo home run into the left field bleachers on a 2-2 offering to push the Golden Eagles advantage to 2-0.
LSU was poised to rally during the fourth and fourth innings, respectively.
Ashley Langoni and Anissa Young connected consecutive one-out singles with one out in the fourth. After pinch runner Alex Boulet stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position, Tammy Wray was called out on strikes followed by a Lauren Houston ground out.
With runners on first and second during the fifth, Simone Heyward popped up and Cassie Trosclair was double up to end the frame.
Southern Miss posted five runs in the fifth inning for the final margin of 7-0. The Golden Eagles sent 10 batters to the plate as Takeda, LeJune, Lilly, Taylor Brown and Danielle LaPointe collected RBIs.
Meghan Patterson was tagged with the loss to fall to 5-1. She tallied nine strikeouts, but allowed three runs on five hits during 3.2 frames of action.
The Tigers welcome No. 24 Kentucky for a weekend series at Tiger Park. First pitch for Friday’s series opener is set for 6 p.m. followed by a pair of 1 p.m. tilts on Saturday and Sunday.
All three games of the series will be carried live on ESPN 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge with Patrick Wright and Kent Lowe on the call. Fans can also follow the action via live stats on LSUsports.net in addition to in-game updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and www.Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.