The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
UAB Softball Clinches Series Against Southern Miss
3/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Box Score (PDF)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Led by sophomore Megan Smith’s 4.2 innings of one-run relief, the UAB softball team topped Southern Miss, 3-2, in Sunday’s rubber match to clinch the Conference USA series, 2-1.
“I’m extremely proud of the way we came out and competed today,” head coach Marla Townsend said. “Our defense was excellent and got behind our pitching staff, who worked extremely hard. We scored early by getting three runs in the first three innings, but we have to make those adjustments to not leave people on base. All the way around, it was a total team effort. We’re going back to Birmingham with a win in our first series of the year, so conference play is off to a great start.”
Six different Blazers recorded hits against the Golden Eagles, led by junior JoJo Fallen, who finished 2-for-3 Sunday.
Junior Madison Hir earned the start and allowed just one run on two hits over 2.1 innings. The West Palm Beach, Florida, native issued two walks and struck out two.
Smith earned the victory after pitching 4.2 innings of relief, giving up one run off four hits and four walks and striking out two.
UAB (10-17, 2-1) jumped out to a 1-0 first-inning lead after back-to-back one-out doubles from seniors Kelly Britt and Sara Beth Williamson.
Senior Ashley Johnson led off the second inning with a hit by pitch and moved into scoring position after junior Amy Waters’ sacrifice bunt. Junior Danii Fernandez singled to shallow left and was thrown out in a run down between first and second, but not before Johnson’s heads-up base running to score and extend the Blazer lead to 2-0.
Junior Mary Warren knocked her team-leading third home run of the season with a two-out, solo shot to left center field in the top of the third, pushing the UAB lead to 3-0.
Southern Miss (15-16, 2-4) cut the Blazer lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the third after Tori Dew and Lauren Holifield knocked solo home runs.
The Golden Eagles led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk before Michelle Stringer knocked a hard one-out double to center field, but an excellent relay from Britt to senior Caitlin Attfield to Johnson made the out at home to prevent the Golden Eagles from tying the game.
Reliever Smith shut out the Golden Eagles over the final four innings to power the Blazers to the series victory.
UAB begins a four-game home stand Tuesday at Mary Bowers Field with a midweek rematch with South Alabama at 4 p.m. CT.
For more information on the UAB softball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UABSoftball). For more on all Blazer sports teams, follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
