April 16, 2000

Box Score

St. Louis - Freshman pitcher Kristin Rossi and Southern Miss senior pitcher Courtney Blades put on a sparkling pitching duel that lasted until the 10th-ranked Lady Eagles finally pushed across a run in the ninth inning for a thrilling 1-0 decision.

Rossi and the All-American Blades were outstanding on the mound and did not give the other team many chances to score until Southern Miss broke through in extra innings. Jennifer Ford reached on a fielders choice with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to set the stage for the Lady Eagles. Pinch runner Kendra Seals came on and Kenya Peters delivered a clutch RBI single to left field for the only run of the game.

Southern Miss had an opportunity to score in the first inning, but right fielder Beth Puttcamp threw out Jennifer Collins at the plate to keep USM off the board. After two hits in the first, Southern Miss only managed three hits off Rossi until they struck for two hits in the decisive ninth. Blades did not allow a baserunner until the fourth when the Billikens put Puttcamp and Beth Yagge on. However, SLU was unable to get a hit and stranded both Beths. SLU had a chance in the eighth when pinch hitter Lisa Rajala drilled a single to center, but was forced by Bridget Fletcher in a fielders choice and Fletcher was stranded to end the eighth. Yagge got a hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Blades induced a groundout to end the game.

Rossi worked all nine innings and allowed seven hits and struck out four. Blades threw her 27th complete game of the season to earn her national-leading 32nd win of the season and struck out eight.

The Billikens see their record dip to 8-30, 2-7 in Conference USA while Southern Miss wins its seventh-straight in improving to 42-10, 7-1 in C-USA. The Billikens return to action Tue., April 18, at The Billiken Sports Center when they host Southern Illinois for a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m.