Murray State
Austin Peay
Offensive Outburst Helps Racers Earn Saturday Split At Austin Peay
4/9/2011 6:05:01 PM | Softball
BOX SCORE - GAME 2
A pair of six run innings in the second of two games helped Murray State softball salvage a Saturday afternoon split as the Racers took game two 12-0 in five innings after dropping the opener in a 6-5 loss.
Austin Peay struck first in the opener, scoring one in the bottom of the second on a ground ball up the middle that ricocheted off the glove of Murray State pitcherShelby Kosmeckiwith two outs in the inning.
The Racers answered strongly in the next inning as Jenna Bradley homered to center with two on. The line drive home run, her 10th of the season, just cleared the top of the batter's eye to put MSU ahead 3-1.
Ellyn Troup added to the Racer lead in the top of the fourth, crushing her fifth round-tripper of the season down the left field line and just inside the foul pole for MSU's fourth run of the day.
Austin Peay responded in the bottom of the fourth, scoring five unearned runs after an error with two outs extended the inning. The Lady Govs tied the contest at 4-4 on a three run home run to right field from Jessica Ryan and scored two more in the inning on a double and infield single.
The Racers had a chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh when Bradley dropped a double behind the Austin Peay second baseman to score Taylor Wilson from second with two outs. Bradley would be left stranded on the bases on a ground out to second as the Lady Govs took a 6-5 opening win.
Kosmecki took the loss for Murray State, allowing a single earned run and six total runs on six hits and a walk in 3.2 innings of action.
Ashley Bolda entered in relief to pick up the win for Austin Peay. She held the Racers to two runs on four hits and a walk in 4.1 innings.
The Racers batted around to start off game two, scoring six runs to take a commanding lead early. Buch singled through the right side of the infield to score Megan Glosser and move Bradley into scoring position with one out. After Troup walked to load the bases,Leslie Bridges doubled to right field to score Bradley and Buch and put MSU up 3-0. Meghan Simswas hit by a pitch to load the bases up and a wild pitch advanced all of the runners, scoring Troup.Christian Cox walked to re-load the bags and an error at short with Wilson at the plate scored Bridges. Glosser followed with another walk, driving in Sims to cap the six run frame.
Murray State hit Austin Peay hard again two innings later, scoring six more runs to take a commanding 12-0 lead. Glosser singled on a short infield bunt to load the bases after lead-off walks from Sims and Cox. Bradley was hit by a pitch and Buch walked to score the first two runs of the inning. Troup, Bridges and Stephanie Mattockss all came through with run-scoring base hits. Troup singled through the right side to score Bradley and Glosser. Bridges singled through the left side to score Buch and Mattocks singled between first and second to plate Troup.
Austin Peay scored its only runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth, piecing together a pair of back-to-back singles with the bases loaded to score two before leaving the bases loaded to end the game.
Chelsey Sullivan tossed all five innings for MSU (12-20, 5-10 OVC), allowing a pair of runs in the fifth on five hits and three walks in winning her sixth game of the season.
Lauren de Castro took the loss for Austin Peay (9-29, 4-12 OVC), giving up five runs, four earned, in picking up just one out in the first inning.
Bradley, Buch and Bridges lead MSU with three hits each on the day. Bradley paced the Racers with five RBI, followed by Bridges and Troup recording three RBI apiece while Bradley, Troup and Glosser all scored three runs in the doubleheader.
The rubber match between the two teams is scheduled for Sunday afternoon with the first pitch set at 1 p.m.
