Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Memphis
Thundering Herd Edges Memphis, 4-3
4/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 5, 2009
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University softball team survived another late inning scare from Memphis fighting them off for a 4-3 victory for the Conference USA sweep Sunday at Dot Hicks Field.
Just as Saturday's game two the decision came down to the top of the seventh as the Thundering Herd (19-10, 7-2) led the Tigers (16-21, 2-10) by just two runs and picked up the win as junior Katie Murphree (Tallahassee, Fla.) entered the game in relief picking up her second save of the weekend.
"It was nice to pick up the sweep this weekend and taking advantages of our games at home," head coach Shonda Stanton said. "The one area that was interesting is that we had the opportunities in a lot of innings with runners on and in scoring position, we hit into double plays. We have to be sharper and a little bit better whether it is with our base running or anything else.
"Again we had what we needed when and where we needed it, we just need to finish it. I felt like we made it interesting in the end and the great thing is we got out when we needed them. I'm excited defensively we're getting better and making plays and that's the difference in the ball game."
Marshall jumped out to an early lead as freshman Alianna Telles (Sylmar, Calif.) singled and advancing on Joscelyn Bitner's (Virginia Beach, Va.) sacrifice bunt. Telles scored as sophomore Melanie Stoehr (Tacoma, Wash.) hit a fly ball that allowed her to tag up from third.
The lead was extended by two more runs in the second after junior Marcena Bertoldo (Beaumont, Calif.) was hit by a pitch; her 30th of her career followed by a single up the middle by senior Rachael Sofie (Everett, Wash.) as both runners reached second and third on the throw.
After senior Kelly Nielson (Tucson, Ariz.) also got hit, her classmate Rachel Schmidt (Alliance, Ohio) came into the game as a pinch hitter. Bertoldo scored on a passed ball and advanced the runners. The second run came as Schmidt hit a sacrifice fly to center.
Down 3-0 after two innings, Memphis responded with a run in the third as Nikki Moreno doubled to right and came around to score after a sacrifice bunt by Leandra Hines and eventually scored on a wild pitch by senior Autumn Mitchell (Shady Spring, W. Va.). Mitchell entered the game for junior Caitlyn Jackson (Ontario, Calif.) after two walks loading the bases.
Marshall came back in the bottom half of the inning though putting the game back to three as Jackson singled allowing freshman Melissa Loesing (Grapevine, Texas) to enter as a pinch runner. After stealing second, freshman Rebecca Gamby (Mount Victory, Ohio) was hit by a pitch.
Both runners would move up following a double steal, Bertoldo singled scoring Loesing from third. With the lead at three, the Tigers came back in the fifth cutting it to two as Hines reached after getting hit and stealing a base eventually scoring on a Leila Dolfo double.
In a similar scenario to yesterday, the Tigers tried to use the seventh inning as its chance to tie or take control of the game starting off with Kamri Chester singling and Mitchell being replaced by Murphree.
With one on and no outs, Chester stole second and moved to third on Kailey Kassner's single placing runners on the corners. Pinch hitter Alyssa Palmieri struck out looking followed by Lelani Bernardino hitting a ball to short allowing Chester to score but a head's up play by Telles getting Kassner out at second.
Murphree shut the door and stopped the Memphis comeback with the exact same ending as game two Saturday as Dolfo watched a pitch go down the pipe for the final out. On the weekend, Murphree finished with a win and two saves.
With the sweep this weekend and Tulsa taking one game from East Carolina in North Carolina, Marshall sits atop the Conference USA standings for a second time this year.
Before traveling to Orlando next weekend, the Herd will play a mid-week doubleheader against Radford Wednesday April 8 starting at 2 p.m. EST at Dot Hicks Field. Gametracker will be available along with radio broadcast from WMUL 88.1 FM and at www.marshall.edu/wmul. Herd All-Access will also be offering live video streaming with audio from WMUL.
