FRIDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 9, Northern Iowa 1 (5)
Jacksonville State 4, Wright State 3
South Alabama 1,
Murray State 0
Eastern Kentucky 10, Toledo 2
Kent State 4,
Eastern Kentucky 2
Tennessee State 5, Howard 0
JACKSONVILLE STATE 9, NORTHERN IOWA 1; JACKSONVILLE STATE 4, WRIGHT STATE 3
FAYETTEVILL, Ark. - – The Jacksonville State softball team opened the Woo Pig Classic with a pair of wins on Friday, when the Gamecocks rallied for a 4-3 win over Wright State before rolling to a 9-1 mercy-rule win over Northern Iowa.
In the first game, Wright State starter Montana Wear held the Gamecocks (9-8) hitless through five innings, but JSU rallied to score four in the sixth to erase a 3-0 deficit and grab the one-run win.
Jax State jumped on the Panthers in the finale, plating three runs in the first and three more in the second and never looking back before ending the game in the fifth.
Junior Kalee Tabor and sophomore Savannah Sloan belted back-to-back home runs in the first inning against UNI starter Abbie VanVleet. Tabor's two-run shot was her team-leading sixth of the season, while Sloan's solo blast was the first of the year for the Reynolds, Ga., native.
The second inning gave the Gamecocks a six-run cushion, thanks to a pair of Panther errors. JSU had just one hit in the three-run frame, an infield single from senior Kelci Johnston that plated the final run of the inning.
They got another three-run inning in the fourth, one that saw Johnston, freshman Cadi Oliver and junior Amanda Martinez notch back-to-back-to-back doubles to give the Gamecocks a 9-0 advantage.
UNI got one run in the fifth on a leadoff homer from Nicole Fisher, but it would be all it could muster before being put away via the mercy rule.
Freshman Casey Akenberger (2-5) went the distance for JSU to earn the win. The Bowling Green, Ohio, native allowed a run on just five hits in her five innings of work. She struck out four and walked a pair.
VanVleet (1-3) was tagged with the loss after surrendering nine runs, only three earned, on eight hits and six walks in four innings in the circle for UNI.
In the opener, Wright State manufactured a run to take a 1-0 lead in the second. A walk to Lindsay Barrett, who advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on a sac bunt, set up a two-out single from Kristi Boreing that put the first dent on the scoreboard.
The Raiders added to that lead in the sixth after a leadoff single from Jess Gorman, just their second hit of the day, was followed by a two-run homer from Kacie Rapshus that gave them a 3-0 advantage.
Senior Jessica Guy got the Gamecocks' first hit in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff single and then scored their first run after a Sara Borders walk and a Kalee Tabor double. The opposite field double from Tabor chased Wear from the circle and set up the rest of the big inning for JSU.
Sarah Shanika came in to relieve Wear in the circle and promptly allowed the Gamecocks to cut their deficit to 3-2 on a grounder from Savannah Sloan in which the Raiders couldn't get an out. Borders slid in safely, setting up three-straight walks by Shanika to Johnston, Oliver and Martinez that gave the Gamecocks their first lead of the day.
Tiffany Harbin (6-3) walked Boreing to lead off the seventh but struck out the side to close out the win for JSU. The Hazel Green, Ala., native ended the game with eight strikeouts and allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in seven innings of work to earn the win.
Shanika suffered the loss for Wright State after surrendering the final run of the game on her third walk. Wear ended up allowing three runs on two hits and three walks in just over five innings in the circle.
Johnston, a senior from Northport, Ala., went 0-for-2 but reached in every at bat. She walked in her final plate appearance after reaching on an error in the first two.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 10, TOLEDO 2; KENT STATE 4, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Eastern Kentucky University softball team opened action at the 2013 Under Amour Classic hosted by USF by splitting a pair of games. The Colonels defeated Toledo, 10-2, in game one before falling to Kent State in the afternoon game, 4-2.
Eastern used a five-run third inning to pull away from Toledo (1-5). Junior Christina Ciolek, redshirt sophomore Shannon McQueen and senior Melissa Costa all had run-producing singles in the decisive inning.
Sophomore pitcher Leanna Pittsenbarger (5-1) came on in relief to earn the win. Pittsenbarger pitched the final 3.2 innings while striking out eight Toledo batters and allowing just one hit.
Costa, McQueen and sophomore Lauren Mitchell each had two hits in EKU’s second win over the Rockets this season. The two teams met last week at the Frost Classic with the Colonels rolling to a 9-2 win.
In the afternoon game, Eastern Kentucky jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but could not hold off Kent State as the Golden Flashes scored the final four runs of the contest.
A Howes RBI double and sophomore Katie Tackett’s two-out, RBI single staked EKU that 2-0 lead in the third inning.
Kent State (3-6) responded with a single run in the fourth and sixth innings to even the score.
In the top of the seventh, KSU’s Lauren Grimes came through with a two-out, RBI single to make the score 3-2. The Golden Flashes added an insurance run on the same play when an Eastern throwing error allowed Abbey Ledford to score from third base.
Pittsenbarger (5-2) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs in relief of sophomore Shaylon Robb. Robb tossed the first four innings, giving up four hits, three walks and a run.
Kent State pitcher Emma Johnson (2-4) went the distance, struck out eight EKU batters and allowed only one earned run.
SOUTH ALABAMA 1, MURRAY STATE 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Murray State softball team dropped the opening game of the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday when it fell to South Alabama, 1-0.
The Jaguars (14-1) were first on the board on the contest in the third inning when Britany Campbell reached base on one of six South Alabama hits in the contest. Campbell was brought home just two batters later on an RBI ground out from Emily Messer.
South Alabama pitcher Farish Beard (6-0) took a no-hitter into the seventh inning until Alexa Becker broke up the bid with a single to center field. In the next at bat, it looked as if the Racers (4-6) would take the lead on a big blast from Casey Castile, but the ball fell just inside the park for a long fly out. Leslie Bridges followed Castile at the plate, but became Beard’s 12th strikeout victim of the afternoon to end the game
Along with her hit, Becker stayed perfect on the base paths this season by going 2-for-2 in the contest. The single also moved her current hitting streak to four and her on-base streak to nine.
Shelby Kosmecki (3-4) took the loss for the Murray State after allowing one run off of five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. CheyAnne Gaskey entered the game in relief of Kosmecki and allowed no runs off of just one hit with no walks and three strikeouts.
TENNESSEE STATE 5, HOWARD 0
IRONDALE, Ala. - Audrey Sensing scored the first two runs of the game for Tennessee State and Shea Morris provided a strong performance in the circle to solidify the win Friday night. The Tigers 5-0 shutout of Howard helps them improve to 2-10 and sent the Bison to a 3-7 mark.
Sensing finished the night 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Morris (1-6) earned her first win of the season as she struck out a career high 12 batters, while scattering five hits and a walk. Morris was on point with her command as she finished with 79 strikes in 101 pitches.
The Tigers used their speed to their advantage as Kiarra Freeman recorded three hits and Jennifer Givens added two more. Kate Morris and Brianna Roberts each picked up a hit, Roberts being of the double variety.
Sensing opened the scoring in the second inning as she led off with a single and moved around the bases on a Kate Morris ground out and two wild pitches, the second allowing her to cross home plate. The freshman first baseman would score again the fourth to give TSU a 2-0 lead. After a one out walk, Sensing scored all the way from first when Morris reached on a bunt single and the catchers throw soared into right field.
In the bottom of the fourth the Bison mounted there best threat of the game. With one out, Howard combined a double, a walk and a single to right to load the bases. It looked as if the Bison were going to score on their final hit, but Tayler Shimizu charged hard and made a perfect throw home to Lindsay Burgess to hold the runner at third.
The Tigers were able to get out of the inning as Roberts swarmed from third on a bunt attempt to get a force out at home for the second out and Shea Morris caught a Bison hitter looking for the seventh of her 12 K’s.
TSU added three insurance runs with a two out rally in the sixth to provide the margin of victory. With Burgess on second and Shann’da Hamer on first, Roberts drove a ball into left off the fielder’s glove who was trying to go back and stretch for the catch. Burgess would score on the double and Hamer advanced to third. Givens followed with a hard shot up the middle into centerfield, plating Hamer and Roberts.