Softball Heads to the Battle at the Beach

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CONWAY, S.C. – The Marshall softball team is on the road again, heading south to the Battle at the Beach hosted by Coastal Carolina. The tournament takes place Feb. 15-17.

The Thundering Herd comes into the weekend 4-1 overall. Marshall's schedule for the Battle at the Beach is Friday (Feb. 15) against EKU at 9:30 a.m. and Coastal Carolina at 2 p.m. On Saturday (Feb. 16) the Herd plays EKU at 4:15 p.m. and Presbyterian at 6:30 p.m. Marshall finishes the weekend against Towson on Sunday (Feb. 17) at 9:15 a.m.

The games will be broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM and streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul. The contests will also be simulcast on Facebook Live through the team's page, Marshall University Softball. Scott Hall will have the call.

Series History:
Marshall vs. EKU: 25 meetings, Herd leads 18-7. Last meeting: March 4, 2017 – Herd won 7-2
Marshall vs. Coastal Carolina: six meetings, CCU leads 4-2. Last meeting: March 1, 2014 – CCU won 2-1
Marshall vs. Presbyterian: three meetings, Herd leads 2-1. Last meeting: March 24, 2018 – Herd won 8-0
Marshall vs. Towson: two meetings, Tied 1-1. Last meeting: Feb. 25, 2017 – Herd won 3-0

Last Time Out: USD Tournament - Marshall finished 4-1
Strong offense and pitching helped the Herd overcome some defensive miscues and come away with a 4-1 record to begin the 2019 season and the Megan Smith era. Marshall began the year with 14 hits in a 5-2 win over UC-Riverside. Sophomores Armani Brown and Rachel Rousseau helped lead the way as Brown recorded three hits and drove in one run while Rousseau smacked two doubles, scored twice and drove in two. Sophomore Aly Harrell was the only Herd player not to record a hit, but she did reach base three times as she was plunked twice and walked once. It began a theme for the weekend. Senior Abigail Tolbert went the distance for the victory.

In game two for the first day, the Herd defeated the host team San Diego, 10-1. Marshall's offense took advantage of 10 free passes with eight walks and two hit-by-pitches. Rousseau recorded two more hits and had her third double of the day while driving in two more runs. Freshman Mya Stevenson recorded two hits in her collegiate debut as the designated player. Junior Kailee Williamson recorded the complete-game victory allowing just four hits, one unearned run and struck out two.

The defensive mistakes were multiplied in the Saturday's two contests. Marshall had five errors in the first game and still came out with a 6-5 victory in the ninth inning against Cal Poly. Two great defensive plays from senior Hannah Giammarino helped save the game for the Herd as she threw out two runners at the plate from centerfield. The first came in the bottom of the seventh that would have been the game-winner and again in the bottom of the eighth that also would have won the contest for the Mustangs. Offensively, Marshall recorded nine more hits as Brown and Rousseau both had two hits each again. Giammarino also scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth off Cal Poly's first and only error of the game. Senior Ali Burdette earned the win pitching the final three innings.

Saturday's second game featured six Herd errors and Marshall still almost came away with a victory, falling 5-4 to UC-Riverside. The Herd stumbled early and fell behind 5-1 before scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Sierra Huerta scored first followed by Giammarino and Brown. Marshall held off the Highlanders in the top of the seventh, but could not muster any more offense in the bottom of the inning and lost for the first time this season. Williamson entered the game in relief in the first inning for Stevenson and held UC-Riverside to just three hits and three unearned runs. Two unearned runs were credited to Stevenson. Williamson also struck out seven.

Marshall came back with a strong showing in the final game of the weekend with a 7-4 win over Portland State. The Herd still committed three errors but held the Vikings to just four hits while recording eight hits on offense. Freshman Chloe Lee was 3-for-3 at the plate and nabbed two stolen bases. Giammarino scored twice, drove in two runs and had her first triple in a Thundering Herd uniform.

Harrell Takes Another Walk to First
This was a phrase that was said numerous times throughout the opening weekend as teams showed a little fear in attempting to pitch to sophomore Aly Harrell. The reigning Conference USA Freshman of the Year finished the weekend with more free passes than official at-bats. Harrell was walked 11 times (none by intentional walk) and hit by two pitches while registering just nine at-bats in 22 total plate appearances, good for an astounding on-base percentage of .773. In the first game, Harrell was walked once and hit by two pitches. She was then walked twice against San Diego, three times versus Cal Poly and UC-Riverside and finished with two more walks against Portland State. The power-hitting lefty was walked 23 times all of last season and set the program record for consecutive games with at least one walk at eight-straight. However, during that streak Harrell was walked just 10 times. Marshall's record for most walks in a season is 51 by four-time All-American Rachel Folden in her junior year of 2007, when it took 18 games before Folden recorded her first 11 walks. However, Folden did have a 6-game stretch from April 14-21 in which she was walked 13 times. Harrell has a great start to go after that mark. With her nine at-bats when she wasn't given a free pass to first, she recorded four hits, one double, drove in three and has a .444 average and a .556 slugging percentage.

KK Stars Back in Her Home State
Junior pitcher Kailee "KK" Williamson had an excellent opening weekend while getting the opportunity to be back in her home state of California for the first time in her collegiate career. The right-hander finished with an ERA of 0.00 in 17 innings. She allowed nine hits across four appearances, allowed four unearned runs and struck out 10 while issuing just four free passes (two walks and two HBP). Williamson got her first start of the season against San Diego and delivered a gem with just four hits in a 10-1 victory. She came on in relief for the final two outs in the sixth inning against Cal Poly and then again in relief versus UC-Riverside. The Norco native was credited with all seven innings against the Highlanders as she entered the game in the first with bases loaded and no outs. Williamson allowed three hits and three unearned runs while striking out seven and helping to keep Marshall in the game. Her final appearance of the weekend came against Portland State as she was again called out of the bullpen, this time in the fifth. She pitched the final 2.1 innings and allowed just one hit with one strikeout and picked up her first career save.

Rousseau Rips It
Sophomore Rachel Rousseau came up big again in getting a starting nod in left field to begin the 2019 season. Rousseau recorded two doubles in the first game, one more in the second and had three-straight games with two hits in each. Rousseau finished the weekend hitting .333 with three doubles out of six hits, scored four times and drove in four. She also made an impact on defense with a diving catch against San Diego in shallow left that ended the third inning and stranded two Torero runners on base. The Morgantown, W.Va., native made another great snag on a hard line drive in the bottom of the ninth against Cal Poly. Rousseau used all of her long reach over top of her head while running back to make the catch and it held the runner at second.

New Faces Make an Impact on Opening Weekend
Marshall had some big shoes to fill but the newcomers made their presence felt in San Diego. Senior transfer Hannah Giammarino hit .364 with a double, a triple, scored five runs, drove in three and made two game saving throws to the plate from center against Cal Poly. Junior college transfer Sierra Huerta started all five games at shortstop and hit .333 while scoring five runs. Junior transfer Brooke Burns played in just one game against San Diego coming in to pinch run and scored. Freshman Chloe Lee hit .353 for the weekend including going 3-for-3 in the final game against Portland State. Lee also scored twice, drove in two and stole three bases. Freshman Mya Stevenson made her impact on offense as the designated player and recorded two hits, scored twice and drove in one run. And finally freshman Rachel Pennington came off the bench to run in four contests, stole two bases and scored two runs as well.

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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Players Mentioned

Armani Brown

Ali Burdette

Brooke Burns

Hannah Giammarino

Aly Harrell

Sierra Huerta

Chloe Lee

Rachel Pennington

Rachel Rousseau

Mya Stevenson

Abigail Tolbert

Kailee Williamson

Marshall University Athletics