Marshall University Athletics
Four-run Eighth Inning Gives Softball Win at Ohio
4/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Four-run Eighth Inning Gives Softball Win at Ohio
4/15/2004
- Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio ? The Marshall University softball team exploded for four runs in the top of the eighth inning to give the Herd the series finale, 5-1, against Mid-American Conference foe Ohio University at Ohio Softball Field on Thursday afternoon.
Ohio (10-22, 4-5) tallied the first run of the game in the third inning. A pair of singles and a walk gave pitcher Randi Nielson (Tucson, Ariz.) bases loaded with one out when shortstop Jessica Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) got the runner at home with a force out before a defensive error allotted a Bobcat home making the score 1-0.
Marshall (26-19, 7-3) would pick up two hits, a league-leading eleventh double from Amanda Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) and a single from Ashley Mitchell (Kennesaw, Ga.), in the first six but wouldn?t register a run until the seventh inning when Sarah Wilson hit a solo shot over the left field fence to knot the game at ones.
In the top of the eighth, Ohio reliever Natalie Armstrong walked J. Williams, Sierra Davenport (Tucson, Ariz.) moved her hitting streak to 16 games with a single to left side and Leigh Wintter (Acworth, Ga.) reached first via an error by the Bobcat second baseman scoring J. Williams and giving the Herd its first lead of the contest. Sara Spenia (Las Vegas, Nev.) would keep the runs coming with a two-RBI single and Ohio picked up their second error of the inning a batter later to score another run, securing a 5-1 conference victory for the Herd.
?It is great to come back like we did today,? head coach Shonda Stanton said. ?It was a total team effort and that is exactly what it is going to take to be successful through the remainder of our conference schedule and beyond."
Nielson moves to 12-9 on the year after pitching the first four innings and returning for the final two. The junior struck out three and scattered five hits. Amanda Luers (Dover, Ohio) came in relief of Nielson in the fifth for a pair of innings.
Marshall will welcome conference rival Miami (Ohio) for a three-game stint this weekend. The series kicks off with a doubleheader at Dot Hicks Field on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and will conclude with a one-game venture on Sunday.