RUSTON – Louisiana Tech softball improved to 12-3 on Sunday with a 4-1 win over Southern Miss, clinching the weekend series and taking the season series from the Golden Eagles 3-1.
 
Allie Floyd (4-1) tossed her second complete game in four days, going the distance against USM. The right-hander allowed one unearned run on three hits, two of which were bunt singles, while striking out seven and walking two across seven innings of work.
 
Freshman Bradi Gallaway saw her big week continue, as she led the Bulldogs at the plate with two hits and two RBI in the win. Elena Heng also finished with two hits while driving in one run. Reese Torres, Allie Furr, and Gracie Flores all finished with one hit apiece, while Furr drove in one run.
 
Hannah Christian of Southern Miss opened the game with a bunt single but was erased on a fielder's choice at second. The Bulldogs then turned a double play on a flyout with Heng throwing out the runner at first to end the inning.
 
Both teams went down in order in the second. Floyd struck out the side, all on swinging third strikes.
 
The Bulldogs broke the game open in the third as Heng came around to score on a Gallaway single to left. Heng singled to start the inning and made her way to third on a sac bunt and a groundout.
 
USM tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fifth after the leadoff batter reached on a fielding error and later scored on a sacrifice fly. She advanced into scoring position on a bunt and a sacrifice bunt.
 
Gallaway put the Bulldogs back in front, 2-1, in the bottom of the inning with a double to left-center that scored Jina Baffuto. Baffuto pinch ran for Gracie Flores, who singled  to second base in the previous at-bat.
 
Tech added two runs on three hits in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-1 lead that would prove to hold. After a groundout and flyout to start the bottom half, Torres singled to right and later scored on a double to left-center by Furr. Heng followed with a single up the middle to plate Furr which extended LA Tech's lead to three runs.
 
After allowing leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, Floyd was able to induce a foul-out, flyout and line out to close the game.
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Josh Taylor
 
Coach Taylor on the win and what he saw from his team.…
"They have a good ball club. [Kayla] Giardina is really good. A little bit of life up, and you have to be on your game in order to score runs against her. The story of the game was Allie [Floyd]. She pitched really well…really, really well. No earned runs and just pretty much dominated. She got a lot of leadoff hitters out today and kept them off base pretty much the entire day. We were able to get some timely hits. We talk about it all the time...that championship formula is great pitching, great defense and timely hitting, and we got most of that today. We had one hiccup in the top of the fifth inning defensively, but other than that, I think we played really good defense today too. That play by [Cali] Bennett in the seventh down the line, that is a tough play. With this wind swirling up against that garage door over there, that is tough. She went in there and made a really nice place. I thought we defended pretty well, with the exception of one-half inning."

Coach Taylor on moving Bradi Gallaway to the leadoff spot.…
"She is competitive in every at bat. She understands the strike zone and she understands how to use her barrel. We are trying to get her more opportunities by putting her in the top of the order and it worked out for us today. Two two-out RBI, it definitely is the difference in the game. She did a great job for us today offensively and she has been steady for us all year on defense as well."

Allie Floyd on what was working in the circle…
"The biggest thing first is just giving the glory to God and him allowing me to pitch seven innings, I mean, wow. I think the biggest thing was just my defense and knowing that I can trust them. Whenever I did start getting behind in my counts, I was like, okay, just feed it to my defense and just trust them. I feel like everything was working pretty well, but just more so trusting my defense and giving our hitters a chance." 

NOTABLES
- The Bulldogs move to 39-19 against Southern Miss all-time and 3-1 against the Golden Eagles this season.   
- LA Tech moves to 5-1 against Sun Belt teams this season.
- Head coach Josh Taylor improves his LA Tech coaching record to 147-94.
- Bradi Gallaway logged her seventh multi-hit game of the season while Elena Heng registered her sixth.
- Allie Floyd matched her season-high with seven strikeouts and has now registered 30 career outings with five or more strikeouts.  
- Bulldog hitters only struck out one time.
 
NEXT UP
The Bulldogs return to action Friday, Feb. 27, with two games in the Bulldog Classic. LA Tech will host Stephen F. Austin at 3:30 p.m. and Central Arkansas at 6 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.