WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 6, Alabama A&M 0
@Austin Peay 6, Alabama A&M 2
Georgia Tech 9,
@Jacksonville State 2 (9)
AUSTIN PEAY 6-6, ALABAMA 0-2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -Austin Peay State University’s softball team opened up the home part of its 2013 schedule with a sweep of Alabama A&M, Wednesday afternoon at Cheryl Holt Field, coming away with 6-0 and 6-2 victories.
Junior Lauren de Castro (3-1) and freshman Abby Guest combined to throw the shutout in Game 1 for the Lady Govs (5-3), with de Castro going the first six innings – giving up four hits and five walks to go with seven strikeouts. Guest struck out two and gave up a hit in her one inning of work.
Freshman Marissa Lake collected three hits and scored two runs to lead Austin Peay, while sophomore Laurel Burroughs had two hits and de Castro a triple and two runs batted in.
In Game 2 versus Alabama A&M (0-4), senior Morgan Brewer (2-2) pitched the complete-game victory, giving up nine hits and two runs – one earned – while striking out four and walking none.
Lake again led the Lady Govs with three hits, while Burroughs, Brewer and junior Amanda De Vries authored two-hit efforts.
GEORGIA TECH 9, JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - In a game full of rallies, Georgia Tech put together the final one on Wednesday to hand the Jacksonville State softball team a heartbreaking 9-7 defeat in nine innings at University Field.
The third lead change of the night was the final one, when Georgia Tech's leading hitter, senior Hope Rush delivered a two-run homer in the ninth to win the game. It was her first hit in five at bats in the game and handed the Gamecocks their first home loss of the season.
After the newly renovated stadium was dedicated in a pregame ceremony, it looked like the Yellow Jackets (10-7) were going to run away after taking a 4-3 lead on Gamecocks (7-8) starter Tiffany Harbin by the second inning. They got one in the first and three more in the second to chase Harbin and make way for senior Hilary Phillips, who stymied the Georgia Tech bats to allow her offense time to mount a comeback.
JSU cut into the lead quickly, grabbing three runs in the home half of the second on five hits. The Gamecocks used three two-out knocks, an RBI double from freshman Cadi Oliver and run-scoring singles from freshman Ella Denes and senior Krystal Ruth. The hit from Ruth was one of her three in five at bats. The Wylie, Texas, native also drove in two and scored another in the game.
The game remained tied until the home half of the fourth, when the Gamecocks put together another three-run frame that gave them a 6-4 lead. Ruth started that inning with a double and then scored on a Jessica Guy single up the middle to tie the game. Junior Kalee Tabor then delivered the biggest blow of the inning, a two-run line drive homer over the wall in left that gave JSU the two-run advantage.
The Gamecocks added another run in the fifth, a two-out single from Ruth that drove in junior Amanda Martinez for JSU's sixth two-out run of the game. Ruth's RBI single made the JSU lineup 7-for-12 (.583) with two outs to that point.
Phillips looked to have the game put away, limiting the Yellow Jackets scoreless on just three hits through her first four innings of work. She gave up a leadoff single to Ashley Thomas, who stole second and then scored on a two-out single through the right side by Katie Johnsky. Karly Fullem then popped a 2-2 pitch from Phillips into shallow right field, but second baseman Kelsey Johnson saw the ball fall out of her glove just inside the foul line to keep the game alive. Pinch runner Kelly Delashmit scored on the play, and then Morgan Taylor delivered a game-tying single to left center that sent the game into extra innings.
Neither team scored in the eighth, but the Yellow Jackets took the lead quickly in the ninth on a leadoff double from Alysha Rudnik that set up Rush's lone hit.
Freshman Casey Akenberger (1-5) threw just three pitches to Rudnik to start the ninth inning but suffered the loss in relief. Phillips ended up allowing three runs, one earned, on six hits in 6.0 innings of work. She entered the game with just 4.2 innings under her belt this season but struck out three and threw 88 pitches.
Harbin allowed five runs on nine hits in her three innings in the circle. She struck out two and didn't issue a walk.
Rush (6-5) earned the win for the Yellow Jackets, tossing all nine innings and giving up seven runs on 15 hits in the process. She struck out three and walked two in a 152-pitch effort.
Ruth and sophomore Savannah Sloan each went 3-for-5 to lead JSU at the plate, while Tabor and Oliver each recorded two hits. Thomas, Rudnik