Marshall University Athletics
Softball Drops Game One Heartbreaker, Splits Doubleheader with Ohio
4/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Softball Drops Game One Heartbreaker, Splits Doubleheader with Ohio
4/16/2005
- Game One Box Score
- Game Two Box Score
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. ? The Marshall softball team saw game one slip away but regained its composure to take game two against Ohio, 9-11 and 2-1, in Mid-American Conference softball action on Saturday afternoon at Dot Hicks Field.
Game One
Ohio 11, Marshall 9
Ohio?s Robin Miller hit two home runs, including a seventh-inning grand slam, to lift the Bobcats over Marshall, 11-9, in nine innings in game one on Saturday.
Marshall (25-14, 10-3 MAC) went up by three in the first when singles by Gina Guzzo (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Sara Spenia (Las Vegas, Nev.) scored Rachel Folden (Baldwin Park, Calif.) and then Leigh Wintter (Acworth, Ga.) and Guzzo for a 3-0 MU lead.
Ohio (16-29, 3-10 MAC) got on the board in the second after starting pitcher Randi Nielson (Tucson, Ariz.) walked home Jenny Tisevich to edge the Herd?s lead to two.
Singles by Dee Tourville (Rescue, Calif.) and Amanda Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) set up two runs by the pair off passed balls as the contest moved to 5-1 in the second frame. Marshall would strike again in the fifth after a Wintter double scored Folden.
OU scored its second run in the sixth as Miller tallied her first long ball of the day. But it was the seventh inning where the Bobcats would do the most damage in regulation. Reliever Mandee Luers (Dover, Ohio) would give up two singles and a walk in the front of the inning before Miller?s grand slam evened the score and sent the game into extra frames.
Both squads were scoreless in the eighth before OU would put up five runs in the ninth inning. The Herd gave up two hits, two errors and utilized two different hurlers--Abigail Harter (Monmouth, Ore.) and Roni Ralston (Tucson, Ariz.)-- to attempt to cool a sizzling Bobcat offense to no avail.
The Herd staged a steady comeback in the bottom of the ninth as Folden reached on an error and Courtney Kacenga (Sierra Vista, Ariz.) scored her on a single and reached second on the throw while Spenia was at third via an earlier single. Tourville followed with a two-RBI double but OU?s Michelle Sauter came in for relief and garnered the save, striking out the last Herd batter.
The game was the first extra inning affair for the Herd all season.
Tourville was 4-for-5 with two RBI to lead Marshall. The Herd employed its entire bullpen in the loss, while Harter was the pitcher of record. Natalie Armstrong picked up the win for Ohio.
Game Two
Marshall 2, Ohio 1
In game two, Herd pitcher Harter allowed only two Bobcat hits to lift MU to a 2-1 victory. Harter struck out three Ohio hitters without a walk to up her record to 9-6.
The Herd quickly got back the run it allowed in the top of the fourth when Wintter hit her eighth home run of the year to lead off the bottom of the frame. The lone Ohio run came when Shannon Weidner singled up the middle to score Courtney Waters, who got aboard after legging out a single to shortstop. After a sacrifice bunt moved her to second, Waters made it to third on a Harter wild pitch.
Wintter took Ohio?s Sauter over the left field wall for one of Marshall?s seven base hits of the game. The Herd third baseman went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Marshall took its decisive 2-1 lead in the fifth inning thanks to A. Williams? leadoff double to left center field. Jessica Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) sacrificed herself to get her sister to third base, then first baseman Folden singled to left field to drive in A. Williams.
Sauter pitched six innings and struck out two with a pair of walks.
Marshall and Ohio will compete in the series finale tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Dot Hicks Field.
