Softball Back on the Road at Chattanooga Challenge

Marshall Game Notes

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Marshall softball team is back on the road for the Chattanooga, Challenge, Feb. 14-16. The Thundering Herd will take on Lipscomb, Chattanooga, Ohio, Tennessee Tech, and Indiana State.

Tournament Central Page
Friday vs. Lipscomb at Frost Stadium – 11:00 a.m. FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Friday vs. Chattanooga at Frost Stadium – 1:30 p.m. ESPN+ | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Saturday vs. Ohio on Field #2 – 1:30 p.m. FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Saturday vs. Tennessee Tech on Field #1 – 4:00 p.m. FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Sunday vs. Indiana State at Frost Stadium – 10:00 a.m. FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream

All of Marshall's games will be broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM with audio streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul through one of the Listen Live links. Scott Hall will have the call. The Herd's four games against competition other than Chattanooga will also be simulcast on Facebook Live. The game against the Lady Mocs will be broadcast by the home school on one of the ESPN family of network channels.

Last Time Out: USC Upstate Classic
Marshall opened the season with a 2-1 record at the USC Upstate Classic. The Herd fell in the first game 5-4 to the Saint Francis Red Flash. Junior Katie Adams had a career-day going 3-of-4 at the plate with three RBI.

The offense helped power the way to a 9-4 victory over Bucknell in the Friday nightcap. Senior Sierra Huerta belted a career-best two home runs and junior Saige Pye added a three-run shot for her first homer in a Herd uniform.Junior pitcher Laney Jones earned her first win in a Marshall uniform as well.

The Herd ended up having to sit around all day on Saturday as snow moved through Spartanburg and delayed all action with games eventually being canceled for the day. Marshall finally returned to the field on Sunday afternoon against the host USC Upstate Spartans and again the offense came up strong with three more homers. Sophomore Mya Stevenson hit her first of the year and then Huerta added her third of the weekend to give the Herd a one-run lead at 3-2. In the top of the 7th, sophomore Chloe Lee opened the inning reaching on an infield error. Junior Armani Brown moved Lee to second with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt leading to senior Blakely Burch coming up to the plate. Burch had struggled early in the game against her former team (she spent her freshman season at USC Upstate before transferring to Marshall) and was 0-4. With a 2-2 count, Burch smacked a shot to deep right-center to give the Herd a 5-2 lead. The Spartans managed one run in the bottom of the seventh before Marshall's defense ended the day with a 5-3 win.

The Opponents
Lipscomb
The Bison begin the 2020 season with a 2-1 record after going 42-15-1 in 2019. Lipscomb won the Atlantic Sun Tournament Title last season and earned a trip to the NCAA Regionals at Alabama. The 2020 season began at the Trojan Classic with a 3-2 win over WKU, a 2-0 loss to Troy and then a 1-0 win over Charleston. The close ball games were aided by a pitching staff that allowed 19 hits in 20 inning and just four runs. Senior right-hander Megan Gray started 2-of-3 games, going the distance and winning both, striking out nine and allowing just two runs. Freshman Emily Yakubowski earned the start against Troy and went five innings with 10 strikeouts and allowed two runs. The Bison offense struggled in the season-opening tournament with a team batting average of .155. Senior Hannah DeVault leads with a .250 average. Lipscomb came away with just two extra base hits. Junior Caitlin Turner hit a triple and freshman Presley Leebrick had a double. Head coach Kristin Ryman is in her 15th season at Lipscomb and has 468 wins as well as three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Chattanooga
The Lady Mocs began the 2020 season with a doubleheader split against Austin Peay on Sunday. Chattanooga won the first, 9-1, and lost the second game 4-1. The Lady Mocs ended the 2019 season 37-17, a Southern Conference Tournament Title and a trip to the NCAA Regionals in Oxford, Miss. Chattanooga combined for 16 hits in the two games with one double and two homers. Hayleigh Weissenbach, Morgan Kazerooni and Katie Corum are all batting .500 and have all three of the extra base hits. In the circle, Celie Hudson received the start in game one and pitched all five innings to earn the win. Hudson struck out six, allowed five hits and one run. Allison Swinford got the start in game two allowing four runs in six innings with five strikeouts. Kat Thompson pitched the final inning and struck out one. The Chattanooga defense committed just two errors. Head coach Frank Reed is in his 19th season at Chattanooga and has piled up 642 wins as well as nine trips to the NCAA Tournament in his tenure. Overall, coach Reed has 1,117 wins in his career after spending 11 season at the helm for Chattanooga State at the JUCO level.
Ohio
The Ohio Bobcats will be looking for its first win of the season after an 0-5 start down in Atlanta against some great competition. Ohio fell to UAB (4-2), Washington (10-2), Furman (10-2), UAB (7-2) and finally to Georgia Tech (5-3). The Bobcats are coming off a 34-21 season in 2019 that ended with a loss to Toledo in the MAC Tournament Title game. Despite the rough start on the schedule, junior Katie Yun is off to a great start batting .467 with seven hits, two doubles, one home run and three RBI. Junior Allie Englant is also batting over .400 (.417) with five hits and four walks. Freshman Mollie Troutman is right at .400 with three hits, one double and three walks. In the circle four different players pitched for the Bobcats with Baylie Thornhill leading with 15.1 innings, a 5.02 ERA and five strikeouts. Ohio allowed a total of 36 runs off 51 hits, eight doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 16 walks and is looking to right the ship. Head coach Kenzie Roark is in her second season at Ohio after spending four years as the pitching coach at USC Upstate.

Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles begin the 2020 season 4-1 after the offense lit up the diamond opening weekend at the Mercer Invitational. Tennessee Tech began with a loss to Tulsa (10-2) and then stormed back with wins over Mercer (10-7), Dayton (8-6) and two over Wright State (15-3 and 7-1). The Golden Eagles look to build off an 18-27 season in 2019. As a team Tennessee Tech is batting .375 with 54 hits, 42 runs, three doubles, nine home runs, and 19 walks. Raleigh Lewis leads the way with a .467 average, seven hits, six runs, four homers, a 1.267 slugging percentage and a .526 on base percentage. Sydney Love-Baker cranked out two home runs over the weekend and is batting .412. In all, five players who started all five games for the Golden Eagles are batting over .400. In the circle Alyssa Arden and Haeli Bryson threw almost every pitch. Bryson finished with 15.1 innings, allowed 21 hits, 13 runs and struck out nine. Arden tallied 14.2 innings, allowed 18 hits, 12 runs and 19 strikeouts. Head coach Michelle DePolo is in her first season in charge at Tennessee Tech after spening nine seasons as the head coach at Army where she totaled 280 wins and has her new team off to a great start.

Indiana State
The Indiana State Sycamores begin the 2020 season with a 2-2 record after the FAU First Pitch Classic. Indiana State started the year with a 2-1 upset victory over the 23rd ranked Wisconsin Badgers, before falling to Bethune-Cookman (2-0) and Purdue (8-7) and then ending the weekend with a 4-1 win over Northern Illinois. The Sycamores finished 2019 with a 19-35 record. In the season-opening upset over Wisconsin, senior pitcher Gabbi Schnaiter went the distance and allowed four hits, did walk five, but struck out nine while holding off the Badgers. The game was tied at 1-1 until senior Becky Gibbs drove in sophomore TeAnn Bringle with a single to left. Wisconsin managed to get two runners on base before Schnaiter struck out the last two batters. Bringle leads the team to begin the year on offense with a .417 average on five hits. Cassie Thomerson and Grace Hunger both have home runs for the Sycamores. Gibbs leads the team with three doubles and four RBI. Head coach Mike Perniciaro is in his first season at the helm. He previously was an assistant coach at Indiana from 2015-17.

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.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules, and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!

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Softball Back on the Road at Chattanooga Challenge

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Players Mentioned

Katie Adams

Armani Brown

Blakely Burch

Sierra Huerta

Laney Jones

Chloe Lee

Saige Pye

Mya Stevenson

Marshall University Athletics