Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UTSA
Herd Softball Takes Doubleheader Sweep at UTSA
4/7/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Game One Box Score (PDF)
Game Two Box Score (PDF)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - On a cool and blustery day in Texas, the Marshall softball team took a doubleheader sweep over the UTSA Roadrunners, 3-0 and 4-2, Saturday afternoon.
The Thundering Herd improves to 18-19-1 overall and 8-5-1 in Conference USA play. UTSA is now 15-18 overall and 4-7 in conference play.
"We played really good softball today," Herd head coach Jen Steele said. "Our pitching staff got ahead of hitters and did a good job of limiting free passes. The defense made some nice stops with runners in scoring position, with the biggest being (Tribolet's) catch to rob the home run.
"We were able to have a combined effort on offense, stealing a lot of bags and then squaring balls up for extra base hits. I'm proud of our squad. Our energy was good the entire day and we were hungry for wins."
Game One: Marshall 3, UTSA 0
Junior Abigail Tolbert went the distance for her fourth complete-game, shutout victory of the season and junior Briana Daiss belted a two-run home run to lead the Herd to the win in game one.
Tolbert struck out two, had zero walks and allowed just two hits. Daiss hit her third home run of the year, 18th of her career, to left in the fourth to get Marshall on the board first.
The Herd added one more run in the fifth when senior Taylor McCord drove in fellow senior Elicia D'Orazio from third with a bunt.
Marshall's defense closed out the game with a three-up three-down inning in the bottom of the seventh.
D'Orazio and Colliflower both increased their respective hitting streaks to nine and 19 games in game one and both had a stolen base. D'Orazio added seven assists on the defensive side, tied for second most in a single game in program history.
Freshman Aly Harrell drew a walk in the fourth inning for the eighth-straight game, setting a team record for the most consecutive games with a walk. Rachel Folden (2005-08) set the original mark at seven games in 2008.
Freshman Wylie Glover recorded two doubles in the game. Glover collected a triple and three doubles going back to the second game against Saint Francis on Tuesday.
Game Two: Marshall 4, UTSA 2
Harrell drove in three runs and Tolbert came on for the final three innings and earned her second win of the day as Marshall finished the doubleheader sweep. Senior Eloise Tribolet kept the Roadrunners off the scoreboard in the first, robbing a home run in center and stranding a runner at second.
UTSA did get on the board first in the third inning with a solo home run.
Marshall tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth. McCord led off the inning with her 15th double of the year and 41st of her career. Three batters later, with two away, sophomore Blakely Burch ripped a double to right that scored McCord.
The Herd took the lead in the top of the fifth as Harrell drove in Colliflower. The Roadrunners tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth with another solo home run.
In the top of the seventh, D'Orazio reached safely on a fielder's choice, stole second and third and then Colliflower recorded her second hit of the game to put two on base. Colliflower then stole second to put two in scoring position. With two outs, Harrell drove a pitch up the middle that scored both D'Orazio and Colliflower.
Marshall closed off the game with three-straight outs, stranding a runner of first. Tolbert ended the game with a strikeout looking.
Harrell's consecutive games with a walk streak came to an end in game two, but the freshman went 3-of-4 at the plate and it was her fourth game this season with three RBI.
Colliflower finished the day with four total hits between the two games and now has a 20-game hitting streak. It is the second longest streak in program history behind Morgan Zerkle's (2014-17) 27-game streak in 2015.
D'Orazio finished game two with four stolen bases, her fourth career game with four swipes, and had five for the day. The senior base-stealer has 34 for the year and 156 in her career. Seven away from passing Zerkle (162) for the most in program history.
Along with home run robbing catch in the first, Tribolet finished the day 2-of-3 at the plate.
Tolbert picked up her ninth win of the year in closing out game two.
Marshall and UTSA finish the three-game series on Sunday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. eastern.
For all of the latest information on the Marshall Softball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdSB, Facebook at Marshall University Softball and on www.herdzone.com.
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