Softball Welcomes SEMO for Home and OVC Openers

Saturday, March 16

Central Park

1 p.m.

Murray State

Southeast Missouri

Photo by: Bill Simmonds/ Miss. St. Athletics

3/14/2013 4:45:00 PM | Softball

Game Notes | Live Stats Game 1 | Live Stats Game 2 | Live Stats Game 3

MSU: 6-11 (0-0 OVC)
SEMO: 7-11 (0-0 OVC)
Series: MSU 6-3
at Murray: MSU 5-1
at SEMO: SEMO 2-1
Neutral: ---

The Murray State softball team will open both its home and OVC schedules this weekend against Southeast Missouri at Central Park in Murray. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m., with a second game immediately following. The series will wrap-up on Sunday with a single game also at 1 p.m.

The Racers had a bit of a rough weekend at the Evansville Invitational, going just 1-3. Murray State split with Bowling Green, but was swept by regional rival Evansville.

In the win over Bowling Green, Sarah Anderson sealed the win by hitting the 10th grand slam in school history. CheyAnne Gaskey picked up the win in the game and went on to finish the weekend at 1-1 with a 1.08 ERA and nine strikeouts.

Casey Castile also had a great weekend, leading the Racers with a .583 average, three doubles and a RBI. In the win over Bowling Green, Castile became the first Racer in program history to hit three doubles in the same game. Anderson also finished the week strong with a .364 average, five RBIs and a .818 slugging percentage.

Saturday will be the Racers' 2013 home opener and OVC opener. Murray State is 1-2 all-time in home openers and 2-1 and in OVC openers. The Racers won their first-ever home opener last season when they topped Jacksonville State, 2-1, at Central Park.

In OVC openers, MSU has beaten Tennessee State twice and lost to UT Martin once. They have never faced Southeast Missouri in a home or OVC opener. This weekend also marks the first time in program history that Murray State's home and OVC opener have fallen on the same day.

Murray State has won six of the nine all-time meetings with SEMO, including the last four in a row. The Racers are 5-1 in Murray and 1-2 in Cape Girardeau. MSU went 2-1 against the Redhawks in 2010 in Murray, 1-2 in 2011 in Cape Girardeau and 3-0 last season in Murray.

The Redhawks are currently 7-11 on the season and will also open their OVC slate this weekend. Southeast Missouri is coming off of a doubleheader sweep of Indiana State on Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.

The Redhawks walked-off in the first game with a 5-4 win and picked up a 9-4 win in the second game. Southeast Missouri tallied 25 total hits in the game and picked up eight total strikeouts from their pitching staff.

Savannah Carpenter leads the Redhawks on the season with a .321 average, while Taylor Cowan and Lindsey Patterson currently lead the team in RBIs with 12 and 10, respectively. Cowan is also the team's ERA leader at 2.19, to go along with 39 strikeouts and .261 opponents batting average.

Live stats will be available for all games this weekend and can be found at GoRacers.com. For live in-game updates on Twitter, fans can follow @MSURacers or @PGriffithMSU.