Marshall University Athletics
Friday, April 29
Huntington, W.Va.
1:00 PM
Marshall University
31-13, 13-6
1
vs
0
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
University of Texas at El Paso
14-30, 4-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
UTEP
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
Marshall
0
0
0
0
1
0
X
1
4
1
Photo by: Ben Wheeler
Softball Blanks Miners
4/29/2022 3:59:00 PM | Softball
Nester earns 11th shutout of the season
Box Score (PDF)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall softball team came through with a 1-0 victory over the UTEP Miners on Friday at Dot Hicks Field. Redshirt junior pitcher Sydney Nester earned her 11th shutout of the year, tied for second-most in a season in team history.
The Thundering Herd improved to 31-13 overall and 13-6 in Conference USA. The Miners fall to 14-30 overall and 4-15 in league action. Game two of the three-game series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. Marshall will honor five seniors before the game in Armani Brown, Saige Pye, Aly Harrell, Katie Adams, and Madison Whitaker. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+ as well as broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM with audio streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
The Marshall players all wore purple armbands in a show of love and support for James Madison softball player Lauren Bernett who passed away on Tuesday.
The Herd honored graduate student manager Jon Crispino prior to the game. Crispino joined the Herd in the fall and has helped in numerous capacities during the season. He graduates on Saturday with his master's degree in sport administration. He also earned his bachelor's degree in sport management at Marshall.
Jessica Kern Huff threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the Herd continues to celebrate women in sports. Huff has a long and distinguished history in athletics as a former student-athlete playing basketball at Penn State and then playing professionally overseas for seven years. She has coached collegiately and is the current CEO and CFO of the Jessica Kern Foundation, an assistant coach for the St. Joe's women's basketball team, and is the wife of current Marshall football head coach Charles Huff.
Nester was in command in the circle as only three Miners reached base. The Hillsville, Virginia, native allowed just two hits, zero walks and struck out nine. Two runners reached in the second and then only one more got on base in the sixth. Nester struck out the side in the top of the first and retired the first four batters with a strikeout. She ended three innings with a strikeout and tallied the 600th of her collegiate career in the fourth.
Nester received great play from the defense as well all game long. Brown had four assists at shortstop. Harrell tallied her second unassisted double play of the year in the second inning. Her other unassisted double play came at Florida Atlantic back on April 9. The fifth-year senior tied her career-high with 14 putouts at first base. Harrell is now third in team history with 1,213 career putouts, moving ahead of Rebecca Gamby (2009-12).
The contest was a pitching and defensive duel as the Herd bats managed just four hits and one walk. Senior Grace Chelemen ripped a double in the first but was stranded at third. Sophomore Autumn Owen led off the second with a walk and Harrell had a base hit in the third. However, the Herd could not take advantage.
Finally, in the fifth Marshall put together some offense and UTEP had an error to score its lone run. Freshman Bub Feringa got the frame started with a double to center. Classmate Lauren Love came on to run for Feringa at second. Whitaker dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and reached safely as the ball was thrown by first and went into right field. The error allowed Love to cross the plate. Adams and Brown also had successful bunt attempts as Adams moved Whitaker to third and then Brown reached when the defense attempted to get Whitaker at third but were unsuccessful. Following the bunts, the Miners were able to make the plays to not allow any more runs.
UTEP put a runner on in the top of the sixth with a two-out triple, however a grounder to Owen at third ended the inning and kept the shutout alive.
In the top of the seventh, with the 1-0 lead, Nester was in complete control as she had the assist on the first out and then struck out the next two to end the game.
Harrell's base hit was the 211th of her career. She is one away from tying Caitlyn Jackson (2007-10) for eighth all-time in team history. Harrell also reached base safely for the 11th-straight game and the 191st time in her career out of 211 games played. The Gahanna, Ohio, native has also reached base safely in 41-of-44 games in the 2022 season.
Chelemen's double was her seventh of the year. The double from Feringa was her fourth of the season and the 79th by a Herd batter. Marshall is four doubles away from tying the program record of 83 set in 2019, head coach Megan Smith Lyon's first season in Huntington. The Herd entered the week seventh in the nation in doubles per game (1.79) and eighth in total doubles.
Pye had a base hit in the bottom of the sixth, her 48th hit of the year. The Stockton, California, native has reached base safely in 83 of her 94 total games played for Marshall, good for 88.3 percent.
Brown had a stolen base in the fifth inning, her fifth of the season and 17th of her career.
Nester is now tied with Abigail Tolbert (2016-19) who had 11 shutouts in 2019. The record of 12 was set by Marshall Hall of Famer Cristy Waring (1995-98) during the 1997 season.
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.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall softball team came through with a 1-0 victory over the UTEP Miners on Friday at Dot Hicks Field. Redshirt junior pitcher Sydney Nester earned her 11th shutout of the year, tied for second-most in a season in team history.
The Thundering Herd improved to 31-13 overall and 13-6 in Conference USA. The Miners fall to 14-30 overall and 4-15 in league action. Game two of the three-game series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. Marshall will honor five seniors before the game in Armani Brown, Saige Pye, Aly Harrell, Katie Adams, and Madison Whitaker. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+ as well as broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM with audio streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
The Marshall players all wore purple armbands in a show of love and support for James Madison softball player Lauren Bernett who passed away on Tuesday.
The Herd honored graduate student manager Jon Crispino prior to the game. Crispino joined the Herd in the fall and has helped in numerous capacities during the season. He graduates on Saturday with his master's degree in sport administration. He also earned his bachelor's degree in sport management at Marshall.
Jessica Kern Huff threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the Herd continues to celebrate women in sports. Huff has a long and distinguished history in athletics as a former student-athlete playing basketball at Penn State and then playing professionally overseas for seven years. She has coached collegiately and is the current CEO and CFO of the Jessica Kern Foundation, an assistant coach for the St. Joe's women's basketball team, and is the wife of current Marshall football head coach Charles Huff.
Nester was in command in the circle as only three Miners reached base. The Hillsville, Virginia, native allowed just two hits, zero walks and struck out nine. Two runners reached in the second and then only one more got on base in the sixth. Nester struck out the side in the top of the first and retired the first four batters with a strikeout. She ended three innings with a strikeout and tallied the 600th of her collegiate career in the fourth.
Nester received great play from the defense as well all game long. Brown had four assists at shortstop. Harrell tallied her second unassisted double play of the year in the second inning. Her other unassisted double play came at Florida Atlantic back on April 9. The fifth-year senior tied her career-high with 14 putouts at first base. Harrell is now third in team history with 1,213 career putouts, moving ahead of Rebecca Gamby (2009-12).
The contest was a pitching and defensive duel as the Herd bats managed just four hits and one walk. Senior Grace Chelemen ripped a double in the first but was stranded at third. Sophomore Autumn Owen led off the second with a walk and Harrell had a base hit in the third. However, the Herd could not take advantage.
Finally, in the fifth Marshall put together some offense and UTEP had an error to score its lone run. Freshman Bub Feringa got the frame started with a double to center. Classmate Lauren Love came on to run for Feringa at second. Whitaker dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and reached safely as the ball was thrown by first and went into right field. The error allowed Love to cross the plate. Adams and Brown also had successful bunt attempts as Adams moved Whitaker to third and then Brown reached when the defense attempted to get Whitaker at third but were unsuccessful. Following the bunts, the Miners were able to make the plays to not allow any more runs.
UTEP put a runner on in the top of the sixth with a two-out triple, however a grounder to Owen at third ended the inning and kept the shutout alive.
In the top of the seventh, with the 1-0 lead, Nester was in complete control as she had the assist on the first out and then struck out the next two to end the game.
Harrell's base hit was the 211th of her career. She is one away from tying Caitlyn Jackson (2007-10) for eighth all-time in team history. Harrell also reached base safely for the 11th-straight game and the 191st time in her career out of 211 games played. The Gahanna, Ohio, native has also reached base safely in 41-of-44 games in the 2022 season.
Chelemen's double was her seventh of the year. The double from Feringa was her fourth of the season and the 79th by a Herd batter. Marshall is four doubles away from tying the program record of 83 set in 2019, head coach Megan Smith Lyon's first season in Huntington. The Herd entered the week seventh in the nation in doubles per game (1.79) and eighth in total doubles.
Pye had a base hit in the bottom of the sixth, her 48th hit of the year. The Stockton, California, native has reached base safely in 83 of her 94 total games played for Marshall, good for 88.3 percent.
Brown had a stolen base in the fifth inning, her fifth of the season and 17th of her career.
Nester is now tied with Abigail Tolbert (2016-19) who had 11 shutouts in 2019. The record of 12 was set by Marshall Hall of Famer Cristy Waring (1995-98) during the 1997 season.
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.
---HerdZone.com---
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Nester, Sydney (23-7)
L: KELLY, Isabella (0-2)
.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Batting:
3B: MORALES, Lexi 1
Batting:
2B: Chelemen, Grace 1 ; Feringa, Bub 1
SH: Whitaker, Madison 1 ; Adams, Katie 1 ; Brown, Armani 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Love, Lauren 1
SB: Brown, Armani 1
CS: Whitaker, Madison 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Softball
INF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballP/UT
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
INF
/ SoftballMarshall Softball Class of 2025 Graduates
Friday, May 02
Marshall Softball: Kaleea Washington & Brooklyn Ulrich (Post-Radford)
Tuesday, April 22
Marshall Softball: HC Morgan Zerkle, Haleigh Adkins, Paige Maynard (Post-Coastal)
Friday, April 18
Hype and Harmony: the Team Personality Fuels Success #softball
Thursday, April 17