Southern Miss Softball Hosts McNeese State for Girl Scout Night and Midweek Game
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Southern Miss softball (6-5) returns home from The Spring Games in Leesburg, Florida, to face McNeese State (7-4) on Tuesday, Feb. 17. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Southern Miss Softball Complex and will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats offered.
The matchup is part of Girl Scout Night, an event that will feature a custom Southern Miss Girl Scout patch for uniformed scouts, according to university athletics. Southern Miss enters the game after posting a 2-3 record at The Spring Games, with wins over Alabama State and Bethune-Cookman. The team aims to secure a win before traveling to Ruston, Louisiana, for a three-game series against Louisiana Tech this weekend.
Southern Miss leads the Sun Belt Conference in fielding percentage at .982 and ranks first in triples with six. The team is tied for first in walks with 48 and leads the conference in sacrifice flies and hits, with eight and seven respectively. The Golden Eagles also lead in assists with 107, with Nealy McManus ranking second nationally with 39 assists. Hannah Christian is third in the Sun Belt and 57th nationally with 15 hits. McManus and Abbi Troquille each have two sacrifice flies, tying for the conference lead. Madison Johnson is tied for first nationally with three triples.
Southern Miss head coach Natalie Poole will face her former team, McNeese State, where she played from 1994 to 1997 and led the Cowgirls to three consecutive 30-win seasons. Poole earned multiple awards during her playing career and later earned advanced degrees, including a doctorate in higher education administration.
McNeese State holds a 9-7 overall series lead over Southern Miss. The teams first met in 2006, with the Golden Eagles winning 10-2. The most recent matchup was in 2022 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where the Cowgirls won 8-5. Southern Miss is 4-3 at home against McNeese State.
For updates on Southern Miss softball, follow the team on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram at @SouthernMissSB.
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