CLEARWATER - Eight inches. It's the difference between sophomore shortstop Kourtney Salvarola's laser-shot double off the fence in left and what could have been a game-tying home run for the University of South Florida softball team Saturday night.

Eight inches was all that separated the Bulls from what would have been their third 7th-inning comeback of the season, as USF (12-3 overall, 0-0 BIG EAST) fell just short to Loyola Marymount 6-4 in the USF Under Armour Invitational at the Eddie C. Moore Complex.

"We fought back and I think we showed some heart," Salvarola said. "We're not exactly thrilled right now, but that's softball. It's a game of inches and it just happened to not go our way today."

It nearly did go the Bulls' way, as USF opened the bottom of the seventh, down a pair of runs, with a leadoff bunt-single from senior outfielder Gina Kafalas. Next to the plate, Salvarola crushed an inside pitch down the left-field line, drilling the top of the eight-foot chain-link fence for a double, putting the tying run on second with no one out.

The Bulls loaded the bases with one out on a walk but could not find that last hit, leaving all three runners stranded in the inning. USF left eight runners on base in the game, finding ways to put runners on the basepaths, but failing to score after the fourth inning.

"I thought our slappers in general did a great job today," head coach Ken Eriksen said. "Ashli Goff, Kafalas and (D'Anna) Devine did an awesome job for us, and when those three get on base, we've got to find a way to get them in."

USF plated Kafalas twice earlier in the game, as the senior singled twice in the first three innings and scored two of the Bulls' first four runs. Kafalas led off the third with a single, starting a chain of three consecutive USF hits. None of those base runners went to waste, as Kafalas, Salvarola and senior outfielder Janine Richardson would all came around to score.

 Salvarola drove the right-center field gap for a triple to plate Kafalas, and Richardson drove in Salvarola with a liner back up the middle. Four batters later, freshman second baseman D'Anna Devine tallied her first collegiate RBI, singling home Richardson.

Down 4-0 in the fifth, Loyola Marymount posted a 6-run rally - the big blow a three-run homer to give the Lions a 5-4 lead at the time. It was the only inning Loyola managed to score, but the lead held.

Freshman pitcher Sam Greiner cruised through four shutout innings, but couldn't get out of the fifth, and was charged with the loss.

Kafalas and Devine had three hits apiece, a career-high for Devine.

USF returns to action Sunday at noon, as the Bulls face Harvard at noon and Miami (OH) at 2:15 p.m. Both games will take place at field eight in the Eddie C. Moore Complex.