Marshall University Athletics
Softball Picks Up Win No. 15 in MAC Play
4/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Softball Picks Up Win No. 15 in MAC Play
4/25/2005
- Game One Box Score
- Game Two Box Score
Head coach Shonda Stanton has led the Herd back to the 30-win mark this season, including a MAC East-best 15 wins. Photo by Matt Riley |
MUNCIE, Ind. ? MAC East Player of the Week Rachel Folden (Baldwin Park, Calif.) exploded for five hits, including three doubles and a home run, to lift the Marshall softball team, 2-1 and 7-4, over Ball State on Monday afternoon in Mid-American Conference action at the BSU Softball Complex.
Game One
Marshall 2, Ball State 1
A pair of doubles by Sara Spenia (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Folden helped give Marshall the game one win, 2-1, against Ball State.
The Herd trailed early as the Cardinals tallied its first run of the game in the second inning. Kelli Jeziorski walked off starting pitcher Randi Nielson (Tucson, Ariz.) and Kathryn Pilger put runners on first and second with a single. A wild pitch and a fielder?s choice put runners on second and third as the Herd intentionally walked Cortney Patteson to load the bases in an attempt to force the out at home. Alyssa Huffman would spoil those plans, however, by reaching via a Leigh Wintter (Acworth, Ga.) error, thus, scoring Pilger, for a 1-0 lead.
Marshall (30-15, 15-3 MAC) retaliated in the next frame, as Spenia started off the inning with a double to right center and Noelle Adams (Wheeling, W.Va.) reached on an error to score Spenia and knot the game at 1-1.
The Herd would score the go-ahead in the sixth. Jessica Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) walked and Folden picked up her second game-winning RBI in a week with a double to center field as MU would go on to take the contest, 2-1.
Nielson hurled for six and 1/3 innings, giving up one run and seven hits while walking five and striking out four Cardinals. Amy Brownfield took the loss on the mound after surrendering two runs on four hits and striking out three. Abigail Harter (Monmouth, Ore.) garnered the save for Marshall.
Game Two
Marshall 7, Ball State 4
Folden, the newly crowned MAC East Player of the Week, exploded for four hits, including two doubles and a home run, and five RBI to lead MU past Ball State, 7-4, in game two.
Marshall attacked initially in the first inning after Amanda Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) walked and advanced to second via a sac bunt from J. Williams. Folden followed with her second double of the day, scoring A. Williams for the 1-0 Herd lead.
Much of the same for MU in the third as A. Williams walked again and Folden scored her via a RBI single to center field. The freshman picked up RBIs number three and four of the game with her eighth home run of the season in the fifth and fourth in a week, scoring Courtney Kacenga (Sierra Vista, Ariz.) in the fifth inning and giving MU the 4-0 lead.
A Patteson double in the fifth inning scored two runs to cut that mark in half for Ball State (16-32, 3-11 MAC) and a Pilger two-run home run in the sixth evened the game at four apiece.
The Herd, however, would get it done in the seventh.
Spenia tripled and her pinch-runner Adams scored off a J. Williams single to push the Herd ahead in the top of the seventh. Folden then racked up her fifth RBI and third double of the day a batter later, sending J. Williams home, for a 6-4 contest. The exclamation point came the next at bat with a Wintter double that scored Folden and gave the Herd and starting hurler Harter a three-run cushion heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Harter would scatter a pair of hits in a Cardinal comeback attempt but held on for the Herd?s 30th win of 2005.
MU heads to Knoxville on Wednesday for a doubleheader at Tennessee, a team ranked No. 11 this week in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
