HATTIESBURG, Miss. – University of South Alabama softball snapped a four-game losing streak on Wednesday when the Jaguars defeated Southern Miss, 5-1, in a non-conference, midweek tilt in Hattiesburg.
 
USA (11-10, 0-2 SBC) earned its first road win of the season behind Devin Brown's eighth double-digit strikeout performance of the year and an efficient offensive display that saw the Jags outhit the Golden Eagles, 8-4, on the night, despite USM (14-14, 1-2 CUSA) making three pitching changes.
 
Kaleigh Todd scored two runs on 3-for-4 hitting, and Stephanie Pilkington and Haleigh Lowe drove in two runs apiece. Pilkington's pair came on her second home run of the season, which gave the Jaguars their winning margin in the top of the fifth inning.
 
"This was a great team win," said USA head coach Becky Clark. "I thought we were aggressive at the plate, we were smarter with our at-bats and we made adjustments when they brought in new pitchers. They kept their foot on the gas the whole game.
 
"I thought Devin battled through and got better as she went," Clark added. "Overall, this was a huge step forward for us. Now, we just have to lock in to this and build on it this weekend."
 
South Alabama returns to Sun Belt Conference play this weekend when it hosts Louisiana-Monroe for a three-game league set on Saturday and Sunday. Links to live stats, video and ticket information can be found by accessing the Jaguar softball schedule page.
 
In-game Twitter updates are provided for each USA contest via the program's official handle, @USAJagsSoftball.
 
For the fourth game in a row, USA opened scoring, this time hanging a pair on Southern Miss starter Danielle Block in the opening frame when Amanda Minahan singled to right field, scoring Emily Messer and Todd, the latter coming around when Golden Eagle right fielder Samantha Reynolds failed to corral the ball cleanly.
 
.The hosts cut USA's lead in half, 2-1, in the bottom of the third inning on Tori Dew's RBI double to right center, which plated Morgan McKeever, who reached on a Jaguar fielding error.
 
After Jaguar shortstop Kristian Foster led of the top of the fourth with a triple just shy of the wall in left field, Haleigh Lane lifted her team-leading second sacrifice fly to right field to score Foster and give USA a 3-1 lead.
 
Pilkington's sixth career home run scored Todd, who led off the top of the sixth with a base hit, to put USA up, 5-1.
 
Brown retired eight of the final 11 Southern Miss batters she faced – four by strikeout – to shut the door on the hosts, evening her record on the year to 6-6 and running her season strikeout total to 128 in 79 2/3 innings pitched.
 
Block (4-4) suffered the loss for Southern Miss after allowing two runs (both earned) on three hits with a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Samantha Robles gave up three runs (all earned) on four hits with a walk in 3 1/3 innings, and Jillian Johnson threw two innings of shutout relief, giving up one hit, striking one out and walking a pair.
 
USA improved to 2-0 versus Southern Miss this season and 11-4-1 versus the Golden Eagles all-time, 3-2-1 in Hattiesburg.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).