Southern Miss softball lost to UNC Greensboro 8-1 in a midweek game on March 18, as the Spartans took an early lead with a grand slam in the second inning.
The game marked the first meeting between the two programs. Southern Miss, now holding a 20-12 record overall and 2-1 in Sun Belt Conference play, managed four hits during the contest. Hannah Christian contributed two of those hits and recorded a stolen base. Madilyn Graham’s pitching record moved to 5-4 for the season.
Christian started the game with a single, but UNC Greensboro’s Brooklyn Shroyer retired the side after striking out two batters and forcing a groundout. The Spartans scored first on a bases-loaded double play, taking a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, after drawing two walks and loading the bases, Nya South hit a two-out grand slam to extend UNCG’s lead to 6-0.
Olivia Christian entered as pitcher for Southern Miss during this stretch and later retired six consecutive batters across the third and fourth innings. Kayce Bennett led off the fifth with an extra-base hit and was replaced by pinch runner Adryan Cox, who scored following an infield single by Julia Glasgow and an error by UNCG’s Jazmin Mejia. This run put Southern Miss on the board at 6-1.
UNCG added runs with another home run from South and a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. BrookLynn White pitched for Southern Miss late in the game, retiring three batters quickly after entering.
Despite this loss, Southern Miss maintains strong national rankings: top 75 in batting average (0.315), ranked 32nd in total hits (249), top 45 in on-base percentage (0.416), top 15 nationally for sacrifice bunts (21), tied for first nationally with Gardner-Webb for sacrifice flies (20), ranked 11th in walks (125), Nealy McManus is top ten nationally in assists (73) while Abbi Troquille is among the top twenty (69).
The Golden Eagles will look to build on their statistical strengths as they continue their season.
