Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
SIU Edwardsville
Racer Softball Falls in First Two Collegiate Games at Ole Miss Classic
2/27/2010 3:00:00 AM | Softball
The Murray State softball team saw its first collegiate action against SIU Edwardsville at the Ole Miss Classic and fell 13-8 to the Cougars (4-7). The Racers (0-2) also dropped a game to Ole Miss (8-4) in the second game of the tournament.
"I feel it was good to finally get our first day over with because we have been waiting so long for the season to start," said head coach Jay Pyron. "The first five innings of the day we played really well in all areas of the game, but after that we showed our youth and inexperience."
MSU will next face Centenary (1-5), Saturday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. in the second day of the tournament. The Racers will also play one more game Saturday based on all the team's records and one Sunday, Feb. 28.
Murray State vs. SIU Edwardsville - L, 8-13
MSU was led by junior Taylor Wilson, sophomore Megan Glosser and freshman Stephanie Edwards at the plate. All three players recorded three hits, while Glosser added 3 RBIs and Wilson and Edwards tallied one each. Junior Kristen Broadway earned the start in the circle for the Racers and pitched for five innings while tallying five strike-outs. Sophomore Chelsey Sullivan then took over the pitching duties and added a strike-out of her own.
The Racers got on the scoreboard first, with three runs in the bottom of the second. Junior Stephanie Mattocks started the inning with a single and stole second to put herself in scoring position. Mattocks then scored MSU's first run when Edwards doubled to center field. Wilson then followed with a triple to right field, scoring Edwards. Sophomore Megan Glosser's single scored the final run of the inning to give the Racers a 3-0 lead.
SIUE got into the scoring in the fourth inning, with an unearned run. The Racers then worked to extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs. After the first run of the inning had crossed the plate juniors Lauren Buch and Mattocks hit back-to-back triples to score two more runs.
However, the Cougar would tie the game in the top of the sixth, with six runs. SIUE recorded six runs after having the first three batters of the inning walk. The Cougars held the Racers scoreless in the bottom of the sixth and then earned the win with another six-run inning in the top of the seventh.
MSU added one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but could not overcome the differential on the scoreboard.
Murray State at Ole Miss - L, 1-9
Ole Miss got on the scoreboard early and tallied at least one run in the first three innings of the second game. The Rebels has a six-run lead before the Racers tallied their lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Junior Lauren Buch opened the inning with a double down the right-field line and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Buch was able to score in the next at-bat when freshman Ellyn Troup was called out at first.
Buch and junior Taylor Wilson were the only MSU players to garner a hit against Ole Miss. Kristen Broadway started the game and was then relieved by freshman Starr Gilley. The duo combined for four strike-outs in the game.
Quotes
Head Coach Jay Pyron
"Looking at the day as a whole there are certainly a lot of bright spots to build off of and some issues that will need to addressed. For the most part our progress was moving in the right direction."
"We had good production throughout our batting order today. Taylor Wilson had a really good day at the plate and made a lot of things happen with her speed."
"From top to bottom we got good contribution from our entire line-up and I was pleased to see some of the adjustments that we made throughout the day."
