Box Score

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana freshman Michelle Duhe hit her first career triple, but South Alabama countered with multiple runs in all but one inning and defeated the Lady Lions, 11-1, in non-conference softball action Tuesday night at North Oak Park.

The loss was the ninth in a row for Southeastern, which fell to 5-19 overall. South Alabama improved to 14-13 with its second straight victory.

USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead off Southeastern senior starter Jenna Yoder (0-1) in the top of the first inning. After the first two batters singled, Haley Hopkins roped a single up the middle to plate a pair of runs.

Southeastern cut into the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Jordan Logan reached on an error by USA pitcher Katy Neal (3-1) to open the inning. Senior Amber Freeman then laid down a sacrifice bunt and the speedy Logan advanced all the way to third. Neal then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Logan to score and cut the lead in half.

The Lady Lions had an opportunity to add to their total later in the inning. Singles by sophomore Meghan Gomez, senior Chelsea Takacs and junior Tamra Ladnier loaded the bases with two outs. However, Neal recovered to strike out freshman Kati Morse and preserve the lead.

South Alabama padded its advantage in the top of the second inning. Carolina Mendoza drew a leadoff walk from Southeastern sophomore Katelyn Thomason, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Katie McGuire. McGuire would later score on a Thomason wild pitch to put the Jags up, 4-1.

Southeastern threatened again in its half of the second. With one out, Duhe lined a shot that rolled all the way to the right field fence, giving the Lutcher native the first extra base hit of her collegiate career. Neal left Duhe stranded at third, retiring Logan and Freeman to get out of the inning unscathed.

After pitching a scoreless third, Morse got roughed up for five runs in the top of the fourth inning. A grand slam by Christin Crocker put USA on top, 9-1. USA capped the scoring in the fifth on a two-run home run by Brittany Fowler.

After Duhe's hit, Neal settled in, retiring the final 11 Lady Lion batters to earn the complete game victory.

Southeastern will be back in action on Friday, opening a three-game Southland Conference series at UTSA with a 4 p.m. doubleheader. The series concludes on Saturday with a 12 p.m. single game. Live stats will be available at www.goutsa.com.