Racers Split Double Header with Austin Peay

Saturday, April 10

Racer Field

Murray State

Austin Peay

4/11/2010 1:00:00 AM | Softball

The Murray State softball team split a double header with Austin Peay at Racer Field at Murray-Calloway County Park. The Racers (13-19, 5-6 OVC) opened the day with a 3-2 win, in eight innings, before falling 9-3 in the second game.

MSU saw production from all over its line-up, with four batters recording two hits each and five more adding a single hit. Junior Jenna Bradley led the team in RBIs, with three off her ninth home run of the season in game two.

All four pitchers saw action in game two, with two also seeing time in the circle in the opening game. Freshman Shelby Kosmecki led the Racers pitchers with 12 strike outs on the day. Eight of her K's came in the second game when she tallied at least one strike out in each of the 5.1 innings she pitched.

"I think that Kristen Broadway and Shelby Kosmecki both threw well today," said head coach Jay Pyron. "Shelby has really been coming along and throwing well lately."

Game 1 - Murray State 3, Austin Peay 2 (8 Innings)

While both teams had scoring chances in the first inning, the score remained knotted at zero until the top of the fourth inning when the Lady Govs had a run cross the plate to take the 1-0 lead. That is how the score remained until the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Racers tied the game and took a 2-1 advantage into the last regularly scheduled inning of action. Junior Stephanie Mattocks and freshman Stephanie Edwards started the inning off with singles to put two runners on and force APSU to change pitchers. Freshman Christian Cox then sacrificed a bunt that allowed both runners to advance into scoring position. A passed ball allowed the Racers to tie the game at one when Mattocks scored from third. The final run of the inning was scored when an error by the pitcher allowed junior Megan Glosser to reach base and Edwards to cross the plate.

The Lady Govs were able to tie the game at two at the top of the seventh, but the Racers then held them scoreless in the top of the eighth to give themselves a chance to win the game.

That is exactly what they accomplished. Belio and Glosser both reached on errors to put Belio on second for freshmen Ellyn Troup. Troup hit a game-winning single up the middle that allowed Belio to score.

Game 2 - Austin Peay 9, Murray State 3

Both teams got runs on the scoreboard in the opening inning of the second game after they traded three-run home runs. APSU tallied four runs on five hits to take the early lead.

The Racers cut the advantage to one with a three-run homer from junior Jenna Bradley over the center field fence. Freshman Megan Belio and junior Megan Glosser were on base after a walk and a single at the pitcher, respectively, to make the score 4-3 in favor of the Lady Govs.

APSU added a run in each of the next two innings to increase its lead to 6-3. The Lady Govs added three more runs in the top of the seventh to take the 9-3 victory.

The Racers and the Lady Govs will conclude the series, Sunday, April 11 at 1 p.m. at Racer Field. MSU will then travel to Bowling Green, Ky., for a Tuesday, April 13 game with Western Kentucky before returning home to face UT Martin, Wednesday, April 14 and Southeast Missouri State for a weekend series.