On the Road Again, Softball Travels to Kennesaw for Bailey Memorial Tournament

Marshall Game Notes

KENNESAW, Ga. – The Marshall softball team returns to the road for the third-straight week at the Dr. Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament, hosted by Kennesaw State, Feb. 21-23. The Thundering Herd will take on Kennesaw State (8-1), East Tennessee State (3-6) and Rhode Island (3-5).

Marshall enters the weekend with a 5-3 overall record.

Tournament Central Page
Friday at 2 p.m. vs. ETSU FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Friday at 6 p.m. at Kennesaw State YOUTUBE Owl Network | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Saturday at 3 p.m. vs. ETSU FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Kennesaw St. YOUTUBE Owl Network | Marshall Radio Online Stream
Sunday at 10 a.m. vs. Rhode Island FACEBOOK LIVE | Marshall Radio Online Stream

All of Marshall's game will be broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM with audio streamed online, Scott Hall will have the call. The Herd's games versus ETSU and Rhode Island will also be simulcast on Facebook Live. All of Kennesaw State's games will be broadcast on YouTube through the Owl Network.

Last Time Out: Chattanooga Challenge
Marshall got out to a rough start on Friday with losses to Lipscomb (14-6) and Chattanooga (10-8), struggling in the circle and defensively. The Herd bounced back with three wins to end the weekend with a winning record.

Marshall got out to an early 4-1 lead over Ohio before the Bobcats fought back and took a one-run lead, 5-4. Junior Armani Brown reached on a bunt-single to begin the bottom of the sixth and then sophomore Grace Chelemen followed up reaching on a bunt-single as well. Junior Aly Harrell came up next, already with two RBI in the game, and hit a double off the wall in right-center scoring both Brown and Chelemen to take the lead. Marshall held on in the top of the seventh as junior Laney Jones picked up her first save in a Herd uniform.

In the nightcap against Tennessee Tech, Harrell provided the big bat again with a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth to put the Herd up by five going into the seventh. Jones finished the night with the complete game victory.

Marshall came out rolling on Sunday in a 9-1 win over Indiana State. The Herd tallied 15 hits in the victory as every batter reached base safely at least once and six hitters recorded at least two hits. Armani Brown was perfect at the plate going 3-for-3. Sophomore Mya Stevenson hit her fourth home run of the season in the second inning to put Marshall up 8-1, and then senior Blakely Burch finished the scoring with a solo homer to right. The Herd defense held the Sycamores off the scoreboard in the top of the fifth to finish with the run-rule win.

Opponents
East Tennessee State: 5 meetings, Marshall leads 4-1, last meeting Feb. 14, 2015 – MU won 3-0
The East Tennessee State Bucs enter the weekend with a 3-6 record. ETSU got off to a rough start going 0-4 in the season-opening tournament at Georgia Southern. However, the team bounced back in Jacksonville with three wins coming over Alabama A&M (twice) and North Florida before dropping the final two games to Jacksonville. The Bucs have only been outscored by six runs (45-39) to start the year. Three players are batting over .300 with Kelly Warren (.412), Julia Fritz (.367) and Makenna Helton (.333). Warren has collected 14 hits, four runs, one double and is 5-of-7 in stolen base attempts. Fritz leads the team in extra base hits with four doubles and one triple. Lili Bowen has the only home run so far this season in the loss to Rutgers on Feb. 9. Senior thirdbase Nikki Grupp was just named a Senior CLASS Award candidate on Tuesday. Grupp is off to rough start after missing the first weekend as the 2019 All-SoCon performer is batting .091 in four games. In the circle, Kelly Schmidt has the most innings with 19.2 and a 3.56 ERA. Taylor Boling has pitched 15.0 innings and has a 3.73 ERA while MacKenzie Dyson has 13 innings and a 3.23 ERA. Head coach Brad Irwin is in his 10th season and has tallied 167 wins.

Kennesaw State: 1 meeting – KSU leads 1-0, last meeting Feb. 17, 2012 – KSU won 4-3
The host Kennesaw State Owls have an 8-1 record that includes a 4-1 win over Auburn, at Auburn, on Feb. 13. The lone loss was 9-2 at Troy on Friday. The Owls offense has been pouring in the production with a team batting average of .343 and outscoring the opposition 68-21. Seven of the main starters are batting over .300 this season with three hitting over .400 in Brea Dickey (.483), Katie Greep (.444) and Taylor Cates (.429). Dickey has 14 hits, 10 runs scored, two doubles, one triple and is 5-of-6 in steals. The Owls have hit just three home runs in the first nine games but they have been excellent at producing runs with timely hitting and forcing opponents into errors with 17 total. Greep was named Atlantic Sun Player of the Week on Monday after recording eight hits, three runs, three RBI and a stolen base. Greep had two hits in the win over Auburn and drove in two runs with a double in the Owls' 6-4 win over Southeast Missouri State on Friday. In the circle, KSU has five pitchers that have all thrown at least 7.1 innings so far. Melanie Bennett has the most innings with 14.0 and a 2.00 ERA. Lindsey Kyte has 13.1 innings and a 1.58 ERA. Head coach Tripp MacKay is in his second season with a 34-30 overall record.

Rhode Island: 1 meeting – Marshall leads 1-0, last meeting March 2, 2007 – MU won 12-5
The Rhode Island Rams begin the season 3-5 with wins over Seton Hall (2-1), Charlotte (7-2) and North Carolina A&T (7-2). The offense has struggled some out of the gate with a team batting average of .206 and just two hitters batting over .300. Erika Yeager leads with a .333 average and seven hits. Ari Castillo is also hitting .333 (5 hits) and has one double and one home run. Rachel Zingerman, who was just named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, has two of the team's three home runs. She bat .364 this past week, is hitting .286 for the year, and leads the team with 14 RBI. Pitcher Sarah Gunderson was honored as the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week for the second time and has been the main arm for the Rams. Gunderson has tossed 25 innings, sports a 1.80 ERA, has a 3-0 record and 21 strikeouts. She is holding batters to a .226 average against her. CeCe Sidley is next with 13 innings and a 2.77 ERA. However, opposing teams are hitting .303 against Rhode Island with 25 more hits and 10 more runs. The Rhode Island defense has been solid with just five errors in the first eight games and a team fielding percentage of .977, good for 32nd in the NCAA. Head coach Bridget Hurlman is in her fifth season and has 55 career wins.

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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On the Road Again, Softball Travels to Kennesaw for Bailey Memorial Tournament

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Players Mentioned

Armani Brown

Blakely Burch

Grace Chelemen

Aly Harrell

Laney Jones

Mya Stevenson

Marshall University Athletics