Marshall University Athletics
Thundering Herd Face Highlanders Wednesday
4/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 7, 2009
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University softball team is set to finish up another home stand Wednesday April 8 with a nonconference match-up against Radford. The doubleheader is set for a 2 p.m. EST start.
Marshall and Radford will meet for the only the eighth and ninth time this week as the two teams last met in 2003 in a doubleheader in Huntington splitting the games.
The loss in game two that year was the first lost to Radford in seven games. Marshall leads the overall series 6-1. Four of those wins have been shutouts for the Herd as well.
Over the weekend, the Thundering Herd picked up its second Conference USA sweep of 2009 taking three games against Memphis in Huntington.
In game one, Marshall took a 6-2 decision over the Tigers where freshman Rebecca Gamby (Mount Victory, Ohio) and sophomore Melanie Stoehr (Tacoma, Wash.) each homered in the contest.
Saturday's late game would start out as pitcher's duel through four and half scoreless innings before freshman Alianna Telles (Sylmar, Calif.) homered. Gamby also hit a home run for the second time on the day later in the contest. The Herd held on to a 3-2 decision over the Tigers.
In game three, Marshall was able to hold on to another one run lead over Memphis, 4-3. Junior Katie Murphree (Tallahassee, Fla.) picked up a save in each of the two final games along with a win in game one. Because of her performances, Murphree was honored as the C-USA Pitcher of the Week.
The Radford Highlanders boast the best record in the Big South Conference at 22-9 and sit in second place in the conference at 5-1 on the season.
As a team, Radford is batting .305 on the year with 39 home runs. Leigh Godfery and Sarah Himan lead the Highlanders offense with 36 hits apiece. Two players also share the lead in home runs with eight each, Nichole Beall and Kirsten Shifflett.
Just as the Herd, Radford will attempt to move runners with some footwork on the bases as the team has stolen 68 bases on 81 attempts.
A pair of pitchers split most of the workload for the Highlanders. Kellie Snooks has the team best ERA of 2.30 and carries 10 wins so far. Her teammate, Chelsea Kelley has nine wins herself with two saves.
Gametracker will be available along with radio broadcast from WMUL 88.1 FM. Their broadcast can also be heard online at http://www.marshall.edu/wmul. All of the Herd's contests will be available via video streaming for members of Herd All-Access. Along with the live video there will be audio from WMUL's broadcast.
