Marshall University Athletics
Softball Wins MAC Regular Season Title
5/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Softball Wins MAC Regular Season Title
5/7/2005
- Box Score
The Marshall softball team claimed its second MAC Regular Season Championship in three years on Saturday. |
KENT, Ohio ? The Marshall softball team claimed the Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championship and secured a number one seed in the upcoming tournament with a 7-4 win at Kent State in game two at KSU Softball Field.
Marshall started its scoring in the first inning. Amanda Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) walked and Jessica Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.) sacrificed her to second with a bunt before Rachel Folden (Baldwin Park, Calif.), the reigning MAC East Player of the Week, registered her conference-leading 20th double of the year to give MU a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Flashes got on the board in the third much of the same way the Herd did in the first. KSU leadoff hitter Abby Molnar singled, was sacrificed to second and eventually scored on a Megan Verde hit up the middle off of Herd starter Randi Nielson (Tucson, Ariz.).
The Herd managed to take the lead, 3-1, with a pair of runs in the third. Sara Spenia (Las Vegas, Nev.) singled and advanced to second on an error by the KSU rightfielder. Spenia then snagged third off a wild pitch and scored on a Dee Tourville (Rescue, Calif.) double. Noelle Adams (Wheeling, W.Va.) followed that up with a RBI single of her own to score Tourville.
Folden picked up two more RBIs with another single in the top of the seventh. Not to be outdone, Leigh Wintter (Acworth, Ga.) tallied home run number ten of 2005 with a two-run, two-out shot to give MU the 7-1 lead.
KSU staged a valiant comeback in the seventh, notching three runs but a stingy Herd defense would prove to be too much.
After a sub-par performance in game one, Nielson came back on a mission, holding the Flashes to nine hits and four runs.
The championship is the second for Marshall in the last three years and will be the last of the regular season sort as the Herd moves into Conference USA in 2006.
In securing the number one seed, Marshall and an opponent to be announced will square off at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the opening round of the MAC Tournament at Firestone Stadium in Akron.
"This is one of many goals we set in the beginning of the year and we are extremely proud of the effort that our team has given throughout," head coach Shonda Stanton said. "It makes it more special that this is our last year in the conference...a number one seed in the tournament is great but there is still a lot of work to be done."
Marshall will play Kent State in the series finale in Kent tomorrow at 1 p.m.
