Racers Head to Birmingham for Blazer Classic

Dates: February 18-20, 2021
Site (Venue): Birmingham, Ala. (Mary Bowers Field)
Live Coverage Links: goracers.com/coverage
MSU Record (Streak): 2-3 (W1)
Racers All-Time vs. The Field: 3-5 (1-0 vs. North Dakota, 2-5 vs. UAB, First Meetings with Toledo)
MSU Next Game: Feb. 25-27 at Mercer Tournament (Macon, Ga.)
MSU Next Home Game: March 10^th vs. Loyola Chicago

Murray State softball kicked off the 2022 campaign last weekend with five games at the DePaul Dome Tournament. The Racers head to UAB's 2022 Blazer Classic in Birmingham, Alabama for their second week of competition and are set to face Toledo and UAB twice and North Dakota.

Last Time Out:
The Racers went 2-3 in their opening weekend of 2022 at the DePaul Dome Tournament in Chicago, Illinois. The bat struggled on opening day to find timely hits but picked up their first win of the season on day two over Ball State, 5-2, before closing out the tournament in style, mercy-ruling Western Illinois in five innings, 9-0.

Individually, lead-off batter, Logan Braundmeier smashed the Racers' first home run of the season while collecting seven hits in 14 at-bats (.500) and scoring four runs. Junior Lindsey Carroll matched Braundmeier's seven hits (7-for-15) adding two extra base hits, a double and a triple.

Sophomore Taylor Jackson proved clutch as she hit .429 (3-for-7) with runners in scoring positions, driving in a team-high four runs. Sophomores Kamryn Carcich and Lily Fischer each went 4-for-11 (.364) and drove in three runs.

In the circle, the Racer pitching staff surrendered just nine earned runs over the five games, holding the opposition to a .268 average at the dish. Jenna Veber (2-0, 1.95 ERA,10 Ks) earned her first two wins of the seasons, throwing 14.1 innings over four appearances and one start.

Scouting Toledo:
The Rockets are 2-3 after an opening weekend that saw two victories against Charleston Southern, one loss to Charleston Southern, and two setbacks versus UNC-Wilmington. MAC Player of the Week honoree Dayna Denner leads the Rockets in hitting with a .667 batting average, a 1.333 slugging percentage and a .737 on-base percentage.

Makenna Dureux has an ERA of 5.73 through 11.0 innings of work. Sophia Knight has a team-high nine strikeouts followed closely by Annika Johnson's eight.

Scouting North Dakota:
North Dakota went 2-3 in Greenville, S.C. at the 2022 Furman Classic, picking up wins over Bellarmine and Maryland Eastern Shore. The Fighting Hawks are led by Madi Moore, who holds a .500 batting average (7-for-14) and Cassie Castaneda (5-for-16) leads the team with three RBI.

At pitcher, senior Jannay Jones has a 2.10 ERA with 12 strikeouts through 13.1 innings. Jackie Albrecht has nine strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched with a 1.83 ERA.

Scouting UAB:
The Blazers are 1-5 to open the season, with their lone win coming against Tulsa at Louisana's Evangeline Bank and Trust Invitational. Sophomore Lilly Crowe leads UAB's offense (8-for-19) and has the lone Blazer homerun for a .632 slugging percentage.

Olivia Valbak has tallied 11 strikeouts from the mound, while Sarah Cespedes is 1-1 in her four pitching appearances so far. Makenna Pierce and Bailey Tindell have also seen significant time in the circle.

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Players Mentioned

Logan Braundmeier

Kamryn Carcich

Lindsey Carroll

Lily Fischer

Taylor Jackson

Jenna Veber

Murray State University Athletics