Racers Extend Streak To Eight, Win Twice Friday

Friday, March 10

Racer Field

3 p.m.

Murray State

18-4

Northern Illinois

8-8

Northern Ill.

Murray St.

Photo by: Patti Twaddle

3/10/2017 10:32:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 NIU BOX SCORE (PDF)SLU BOX SCORE (PDF)Photo Gallery

The Murray State softball team won both of its day two games at the 2017 Racer Classic Friday at Racer Field in Murray, Kentucky to push its current win streak to eight and overall record on the year to 19-4. The Racers rallied in game one to top Northern Illinois, 7-5 and then held on to beat Saint Louis for the second day in a row, 2-1.

Game 1 – Murray St. 7, Northern Ill. 5
Kayla Scaperrotta and Sam Schmidt helped get the Northern Illinois offense rolling in game one by smacking a two-RBI double in the second and a RBI-single in the third, respectively, to give the Huskies an early 3-0 advantage.

Murray State finally got on the board in the third with RBIs from Jessica Twaddle and Madison Culver, before tying the game in the fourth on a RBI-single from Brenna Finck. In the fifth, MSU took the lead for the first time in the game on a Maggie Glass triple that plated Jessica Twaddle. Later in the inning, the Racers would add another run on a NIU error and two more on a single by Finck to push the lead to 7-3.

The Huskies attempted a rally in the seventh, with a RBI-single from Jessica Rio and a RBI-double by Kayti Grable to put their team within striking distance at 7-5. However, that was as close as Northern Illinois would get, as MSU held on for the win.

Brenna Finck drove in three runs on three hits and scored one as well, to lead Murray State in the opener, while four other Racers had two hits in the contest. The 13 total hits in the game by the Racers are the second-most in a single-game this season.

In the circle, Haven Campbell moved to 7-2 on the year with the win by allowing five runs, only four of which were earned, on 10 hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

Game 2 – Murray St. 2, Saint Louis 1
In the nightcap, Murray State scored all of its runs in the third inning, both of which came on errors by Saint Louis. Kristen Bialek was first to score and did so after Finck reached on a throwing error by the shortstop, Alex Nickel. Later in the stanza, Twaddle got on board with a single, however on the ensuing throw the ball was throw into the dugout by Nickel, allowing Fick to score put Murray State on top 2-0.

After allowing three base runners in the first, on two hits and an error, Murray State pitcher Mason Robinson clamped down and became a real problem for the SLU offense. From the third out in the first to the first out in the sixth, Robinson retired 14 consecutive batter to help preserve MSU's slim lead.

In the seventh, Saint Louis finally scored a run on a double by Kaylyn Breitbach to cut the lead in half at 2-1. However, with two outs and a runner in scoring position, Robinson sealed the win by getting Josie Knesel to strike out looking to end the game.

Robinson struck out a season-high seven in the game and moved to 12-2 on the year after giving up just one run on five hits with only two walks. The win was the 57^th of Robinson's career, tying her with CheyAnne Gaskey as the program's all-time leader in wins. Meanwhile on offense, Twaddle led all hitters in the game by finishing at 2-for-3.

The Racers will take Saturday off before closing out play in the 2017 Racer Classic Sunday against Northern Illinois at 1:30 p.m.