Murray State University Athletics
Racers Blast Past Middle Tennessee In Pair of Wins
4/10/2012 10:06:00 AM | Softball
Game 2: Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
Casey Castile homered twice on the day and Leslie Bridges hit a big grand slam as the Racers took two games from Middle Tennessee State Tuesday afternoon, defeating the Blue Raiders 5-1 and 10-5
Middle Tennessee State (12-20) opened with a run in their first time batting. Nina Davenport led the game off with a single to second base, and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. She would advance to third on a passed ball and scored on a single into center field by Kaycee Popham to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Racers (17-13) got the run back in the bottom of the fourth as Megan Glosser singled on an infield hit to the shortstop to lead off the inning. Mo Ramsey followed with another infield single on a slow roller down the first base line, and both runners moved up a base as a charging MTSU first baseman turned and threw the ball toward an uncovered first base. Leslie Bridges singled into shallow left, scoring Glosser from third before Ramsey was thrown out at the plate.
Murray State took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth as Christian Cox singled to shallow left field to start off the inning. She advanced to second on an infield hit to the third baseman by Glosser. Both runners advanced as Ramsey dropped a bunt in front of the plate and reached first safely as first base was uncovered. With a runner on each base and no outs, Bridges cleared the bases on a grand slam home run, her third homer of the season, to put MSU up 5-1.
The Blue Raiders threatened in the final half inning, loading the bases and bringing the winning run to the plate with one out, but Shelby Kosmecky got the second out on a pop up behind shortstop that allowed a tagging runner from third to score, and ended the game on a strike out for the win.
Kosmecki earned the win, her eighth of the season, in 2+ innings of relief. She gave up the one run along with a pair of hits and a walk, and also struck out three.
CheyAnne Gaskey started for the Racers, allowing an unearned run in five innings on six hits with three strikeouts.
Caty Jutson took the loss for Middle Tennessee as she was charged with all five runs on nine hits and a pair of walks.
Bridges drove in all five runs in the game for MSU, and recorded a pair of hits in two official at-bats. Mo Ramsey raised her batting average to .306 after the game with three hits on the day, and Megan Glosser tallied two hits with a pair of runs.
Middle Tennessee State got on the scoreboard first again to lead off the second game as Davenport singled up the middle. She worked over to third base on a wild pitch and a fly ball to center, and scored on a ground out to second.
The Racers fought back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring a pair as Cox and Glosser led off the inning with singles in the infield. Mo Ramsey would drive in both on a base hit up the middle to take a 2-0 lead.
Casey Castile broke the game open for the Racers in the bottom of the third, homering to center field with Alexa Becker and Bridges on base to increase the Racers lead to 5-1.
Bridges would drive in her sixth run of the day in the bottom of the fourth, drawing a two-out walk with the bases loaded to score Ellyn Troup to put MSU ahead by five.
Sarah Anderson kept the runs coming in the bottom of the fifth, scoring from third on a wild throw by the MTSU catcher on a steal by Mallory Richardson.
Middle Tennessee cut into the lead in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs on four hits, all singles, and a pair of walks to bring the game back to 7-4
The Racers would keep the offense going in their half of the inning, scoring three more runs to extend the lead back to six. Mo Ramsey reached on an error to start the inning, moving to second on a wild pitch and advancing to third on a groundout to the left side of the infield. After a fielders' choice from Alexa Becker that found Ramsey stuck in a rundown where she would end up safe at third, she would score on the second wild pitch of the inning to take the score to 8-4. Castile followed with her second home run of the day to plate Becker and give the Racers their ninth and 10th runs of the game.
MSTU pounded out three hits in the top of the seventh, scoring one run, but stranded a pair of runners in the five run loss.
Chelsey Sullivan earned the win, allowing four earned runs on six hits and three walks. She struck out a pair in 5.2 innings.
Gaskey made her second appearance of the day, throwing the last 1.1 innings of the game. She earned the first save of the season for Murray State after coming into a bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth.
Shelby Stinnett took the loss for the Blue Raiders, allowing six runs, three of them earned, on five hits and a pair of walks.
Eight different Racers scored in the game, with Becker and Castile each crossing home twice. Castile drove in five runs in the game, and along with Glosser were the two Racers with two hits in the game.
Murray State returns to action Thursday afternoon, traveling to SIUE for a lone OVC contest. First pitch in Edwardsville, Ill., is scheduled for 4 p.m.
