Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Jacksonville State
Bridges Pinch Hit Home Run Advances Racers To OVC Championships
5/8/2011 1:42:37 PM | Softball
MSU earns 6th seed after Tennessee Tech loses 1-0 at UT Martin
She picked as good of a time as any for her first.
Her pinch hit two-run home run deep to left field broke a 5-5 stalemate in the top of the seventh and led the Racers to a 7-5 win Sunday afternoon at Jacksonville State.
Combined with a 1-0 loss from Tennessee Tech at UT Martin earlier in the day, the Racers claimed the sixth and final spot in next week's OVC Championships hosted by Eastern Illinois in Charleston, Ill. They will meet 3rd seeded UT Martin at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 12 in the first game of the OVC Championships.
The Racers struck first to lead off the game in the top of the first. With the bases loaded on a pair of walks from Taylor Wilson and Lauren Buch sandwiched around an infield single from Megan Glosser, Stephanie Mattocks worked a 3-2 walk to score Glosser from third. Meghan Sims added on to the Racer lead, driving a ball halfway up the fence in right field to score Bradley and Buch to put MSU ahead 3-0.
Jacksonville State evened up the game in its half of the second, scoring one on a double down the line into right field. The Gamecocks drew a walk and followed up with a single up the middle for its second run of the inning. Another base hit into shallow left field scored their third run of the game, all with two outs in the inning.
Both teams threatened to score in the third. Mattocks drew a full-count walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a Sims single into right field. They advanced a base each later in the inning on a wild pitch, and Chrisitan Cox walked with two outs to load the bases, but JSU struck out Taylor Wilson for the third strike out of the inning to keep the game tied.
The Gamecocks also had an opportunity to take the lead as one runner was hit by a pitch and a second followed with a walk to put two on with two outs, but the Racers got out of the inning on a fly out in foul territory to end the threat.
Jacksonville State had another chance to score in the fourth inning, loading the bases with one out. Kristen Broadway kept the Gamecocks from crossing home plate, getting a force out at home on a comebacker to the pitcher and a strike out for the third out of the inning.
The Racers fought back in the top of the sixth, claiming the lead for the second time in the game. Wilson reached on a walk and moved to second as Glosser bunted to the pitcher and was safe at first on a throwing error. Buch lined a double into right field two batters later, scoring Wilson before Glosser was tagged out two steps behind for the second out of the inning. Mattocks scored Buch from third, singling on a ball off of JSU pitcher Kristen Graham that rolled into foul territory in front of the MSU dugout.
JSU responded with two of its own in the bottom of the sixth. The Gamecocks got a bases-loaded walk on four pitches to score their fourth run of the day and executed a squeeze bunt to the pitcher to score the tying run.
Madysen Wilton picked up the win for Murray State, her third of the season. She entered in the sixth, tossing 2/3 of an inning and walked one.
Shelby Kosmecki re-entered in the seventh after starting the game to earn her first save of the season. She shut the Gamecocks down in order to guarantee the MSU victory.
Ashley Eliasson was saddled with the loss for Jacksonville State, her second of the weekend. She gave up two runs in only getting one out in the seventh inning.
Megan Glosser led the Racers with three hits on the day. Meghan Sims also had a pair as MSU out-hit the host Gamecocks 10-8.The two teams combined for a total of 15 walks on the afternoon, MSU drawing eight and JSU seven.
