HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana's Cameron Beal singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give SLU a 1-0 victory over Southern Miss in non-conference softball action Wednesday night at North Oak Park.
 
SLU (9-10) snapped a four-game losing skid with the victory. Southern Miss fell to 12-9 overall after coming in on the wrong end of the pitcher's duel.
 
The Southeastern trio of Heather Zumo, MC Comeaux (3-4) and Ellie DuBois combined to hold the visiting Golden Eagles to four hits in the shutout victory. Beal led the Lady Lions with two hits, while Aeriyl Mass and Madisen Blackford each had hits for SLU.
 
USM mounted the game's first threat in the top of the first inning. With a runner on third and one out, Zumo struck out Hannah Borden and Terrica Williams to keep the Golden Eagles off the board.
 
In the top of the second, Karsen Pierce hit a double off the left field fence with one out. However, Zumo retired Amber Pack and Maria Smith to hold off Southern Miss.
 
SLU's first threat came in the bottom of the third, as Mass singled, then promptly stole second and third. Mass was stranded, as Morgan Leinstock retired Lindsey Rizzo to keep the Lady Lions scoreless.
 
Southeastern loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with no outs to chase Leinstock from the game. But, Pierce (1-4) came in and sat down Karlee Kraft, Mass and Rizzo to maintain the scoreless tie.
 
Blackford led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and moved to third on consecutive groundouts by Ella Manzer and DuBois. With two outs, Beal hit a slow grounder back to the circle and beat Pierce's throw to first to allow Blackford to score the game's first run.
 
DuBois sat down the Golden Eagles in order in the seventh. The Shreveport, Louisiana native fanned Pierce and caught Pack looking to nail down her first career save as a Lady Lion.
 
Up Next
SLU will open Southland Conference play this week, hosting Lamar for a three-game series at North Oak Park. The set opens with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and concludes with a noon contest on Saturday. Friday's doubleheader will air on ESPN+. Live stats for the entire series will be available at www.LionSports.net/sidearmstats/softball.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2020-21 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail and text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @LionUpSoftball on Twitter and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
HOME RUN CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the softball program are encouraged to join the Home Run Club. Lady Lion softball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Home Run Club and S Club (softball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern softball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events (softball, baseball, football and basketball), effective with the start of the 2018 football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.