April 18, 2003

Final Stats

St. Louis, Mo. - The Saint Louis Billikens and Southern Miss Golden Eagles split a pair of extra-inning games in Conference USA softball action on Friday at The Billiken Sports Center. The Billikens took game one in eight innings by a 1-0 count, while the Golden Eagles won game two, also in eight innings, by a 3-2 score. The Billikens are now 15-13 overall, 8-11 in Conference USA. Southern Miss is 21-25 overall, 7-10 in C-USA.

In the first game, SLU starter Nicole Bohnenstiehl was dominating, and for the second time in a week, had a no-hitter through 6-2/3 innings. Sarah Boyd finally got the first hit for Southern Miss with two outs in the seventh, and Auriel Jenkins followed with another hit as USM threatened. But Bohnenstiehl struck out Ashley Davis to end the inning. Southern Miss starter Jessica Holaway kept the Golden Eagles in the game by holding the Billikens off the board for seven innings, too. In the bottom of the seventh, the Billikens loaded the bases with no outs, but lined into a double play and struck out to send the game to extra innings. SLU's winning run started innocently. In the bottom of the eighth, AshLeigh Williams was hit by a pitch with two outs. Adrie Bogaars lifted a double to the right center gap, and Williams raced all the way around for the winning run. Bohnenstiehl had 14 strikeouts, walked just one and only allowed the two singles in the seventh to pick up her 12th win of the season. Holaway was the hard-luck loser for Southern Miss. She struck out six and scattered seven hits.

Neither team scored through five innings of the second game, but the action picked up with the start of the sixth. Southern Miss' Heather Bell reached on a fielder's choice and scored the game's first run on Amanda Brown's double to centerfield. USM tacked on another run in the top of the seventh when Auriel Jenkins launched a solo home run to put the Golden Eagles up 2-0. In the bottom of the seventh, the Billikens cameback to tie the game. With the bases loaded, pinch hitter Nicole Bohnenstiehl took the loss for SLU in the second game despite eight strikeouts.

The teams will play a single game on Sat., April 19, at 1 p.m.