Burch Walks-Off as Softball Defeats ETSU in the Eighth

Box Score

KENNESAW, Ga. – The Marshall softball team fought out an extra-inning victory as senior Blakely Burch delivered the walkoff single in the bottom of the eighth, 5-4, over the East Tennessee State Bucs, Friday at the Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament. The Herd's second game of the day against Kennesaw State is currently postponed and the teams are looking to reschedule.

The Thundering Herd improves to 6-3 overall.

"I'm really proud of how our team fought today," Herd head coach Megan Smith said. "I thought Laney (Jones) pitched extremely well and offensively it just took us a while to get our bats going. But, the great thing to see from this team is the grit and the fight. I'm just really proud of the way they continued to fight even though we had some adversity today. We may have snuck one out, but we fought for it and it was good to see that fight."

Junior Laney Jones received the start in the circle and pitched into the eighth. She set a career-high in her time at Marshall with eight strikeouts. Freshman Ashley Blessin finished the game pitching the last inning and earned the win, the first of her career.

The Herd tallied 11 hits in the win as eight of the nine in the lineup delivered at least one hit and every batter reached base safely.

ETSU got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the top of the third. Marshall scored its first run in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Saige Pye led off the inning with a double down the right field line. Sophomore Chloe Lee came in to run at second for Pye and scored two batters later when senior Sierra Huerta hit a double to the left-center gap.

Marshall had an opportunity in the fifth inning as sophomore Grace Chelemen hit a two-out triple to left-center and then junior Aly Harrell was walked. The Herd could not get the timely hit.

Finally, in the bottom of the seventh Burch hit a one-out triple down the right-field line, her first of the year. Next, sophomore Armani Brown reached on an infield error that allowed Burch to score and tie the game.

In the top of the eighth, ETSU started with a two-run homer run as the international tie-breaker rule was in effect. Marshall trailed 4-2 and Blessin was brought in to finish the inning and did not allow a base-runner.

The Herd stepped up in the bottom of the eight, with Pye running at second, and got going from the start. Sophomore Mya Stevenson led off with a single that rolled into foul territory in left and allowed Pye to score and cut the deficit to one. Next, junior Katie Adams got on base with a single to left and sophomore Rachel Pennington came in to run at first for Adams and represented the game-winning run. Two batters later, junior Rachel Rousseau hit a double to deep center that scored Stevenson to tie the game. Pennington advanced to third. Burch then came up, and with a 2-1 count, hit a pitch up the middle into centerfield that scored Pennington and won the game. It was the second career walkoff hit for Burch.

"When you talk about fight and grit, the first player that comes to mind is Blakely," coach Smith said of her senior. "So to me it was fitting for her to have those moments in this game where it took so much fight for our team to win. She had a rough start to the season offensively, but the kid is a fighter. She came out today and fought hard, regardless of the results from the last two weekends. She gutted it out for us and that is what we need everybody to do."

Marshall returns to the field on Saturday at 3 p.m. against East Tennessee State and then will play at 5:30 p.m. against Kennesaw State.

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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Burch Walks-Off as Softball Defeats ETSU in the Eighth

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Team Stats

Mya Stevenson

Sierra Huerta

Blakely Burch

Grace Chelemen

Players Mentioned

Katie Adams

Ashley Blessin

Armani Brown

Blakely Burch

Grace Chelemen

Aly Harrell

Sierra Huerta

Laney Jones

Chloe Lee

Rachel Pennington

Saige Pye

Rachel Rousseau

Mya Stevenson

Marshall University Athletics