THURSDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 1, Penn 0
UT Martin 5, Penn 2
Morehead State 9, Charlotte 1 (5)
@Georgia State 6,
Eastern Illinois 5 (10)
Southeast Missouri 3, @Missouri 2
@Missouri State 2,
Southeast Missouri 1
Georgia State 4,
Eastern Illinois 3
MOREHEAD STATE 9, CHARLOTTE 1
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Morehead State softball team used a seven-run second inning to defeat Charlotte, 9-1, in five innings on Thursday afternoon at the D.L. Phillips Complex.
With the win, the Eagles improved to 3-5 on the season, while Charlotte fell to 9-7. MSU picked up 11 hits and didn't commit an error in the contest.
Senior pitcher Katie Pfost picked up her third win of the season as she allowed one earned run and struck out three in five innings of work.
Offensively, senior Kayla Ashbrook tied a career high with a four-RBI performance at the plate as she went 2-for-4. Seniors Amber Riddle, Elizabeth Wager and Anna Sommer also registered two-hit games.
After picking up an early run in the first inning, the MSU offense exploded in its half of the second with seven runs including a three-run double from Ashbrook.
MSU tacked on its final run in the top of the fifth via an error by the left fielder, and the Eagles collected the win on the mercy rule.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, MISSOURI STATE 2; MISSOURI STATE 2, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (4-8) softball split the home-opening doubleheader Thursday afternoon with Missouri State (8-9), winning 3-2 in game one and falling in game two, 1-2.
Southeast Missouri 3, Missouri State 2
Missouri State struck first in the top of the second when they scored on an RBI ground-out to to second by Caitlin Chapin to take a 0-1 lead on the Redhawks.
Missouri State added to their lead in the fourth when Chapin hit a home run to left field, going up 0-2 on Southeast.
With two out, and a runner on first, the Redhawks narrowed the Bear lead with an RBI triple to right field off the bat of Xia Wilson, her first career triple, to cut the lead 1-2.
Southeast scored the winning run in the fifth inning. The Redhawks tied the game on a Simone Patterson RBI single to score Brittany Smith. The Redhawks scored the go-ahead run when Lindsey Patterson struck out, followed by an impressive double steal, S. Patterson stole second and Kaitlin Zink stole home to take the lead on the Bears, 3-2.
The Redhawks worked out of a runner-on-third situation in the top of the seventh to secure the win over Missouri State.
Southeast out-hit Missouri State 9-8 in game one.
Wilson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Seven other Redhawk batters all recorded a hit in the contest.
Lauren Eisenreich led the Missouri State offense going 2-for-3 in the contest.
Taylor Cowan (2-4) recorded the complete game victory going 7.0 innings, striking out a season-high five Bear batters, only walking one. This is Cowan's fourth complete game this season.
Chelsea Jones (7-3) suffered the loss in the contest.
Southeast Missouri 3, Missouri State 2
For the second time in the doubleheader, Missouri State jumped out to a lead first with a 2-RBI double off the bat of Heather Duckworth to take a 0-2 lead in the third.
L. Patterson cut the Bear lead to 1-2 on a monster blast to left field, her second of the season.
This would be the closest Southeast would get to the Bears as the score would stand at 1-2 to the end of the game.
Missouri State out-hit Southeast 6-5 in game two.
Savannah Carpenter had a 2-for-3 performance while L. Patterson went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Alexis Anderson and Chelsea Smith each added a hit in the game.
Hannah Clemons (1-2) suffered her second loss of the season Thursday evening going 6.1 innings, striking out a season-high six batters. Cowan pitched 0.2 innings in relief.
Jessie Van Es (1-6) earned her first win of the season Thursday evening. Van Es went 6.1 innings giving up one run on three hits, striking out two batters, only walking one.
GEORGIA STATE 6, EASTERN ILLINOIS 5 ; GEORGIA STATE 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3
ATLANTA, Ga. - Eastern Illinois softball dropped a pair of one-run nailbiters at Georgia State on Thursday afternoon, as the Panthers lost a tough 6-5 ten-inning marathon prior to falling 4-3 in the nightcap.
The twinbill loss moves EIU to 4-6 on the early spring season, while the GSU Panthers improved to 14-8 overall.
Junior infielder Carly Willert led all Panthers with a 5-for-8 day at the plate which included a double and pair of RBIs, while touching home once and earning six total bases.
EIU used the long ball in both contests, as sophomore infielder Bailey O'Dell drilled a couple of walk-up solo homers in the first contest, while junior Brooke Owens nailed a three-run shot over the fence in the nightcap.
Owens and O'Dell accounted for six total RBIs via four and two, respectively, as O'Dell scored three times to lead all Panthers.
Sophomore Hannah Cole notched a 3-for-6 plate performance.
Pitching-wise, Stephanie Maday and Janele Robinson were tagged with the respective first and second game losses, as Maday relieved starter Hanna Mennenga in the opening 10-inning contest.
Mennenga fanned 14 total GSU batters as she held the other Panther unit to just a .161 batting mark. She had 11 strikeouts in the first game behind 6.1-innings of work, then added three more Ks in just over two-innings in the circle in the second game.
Team-wise, Eastern actually out-hit GSU in each contest, for an 18-to-14 twinbill advantage and a .277-to-.237 lead in the batting marks.
Both squads registered eight RBIs and two doubles, while EIU clawed past GSU in homers by a three-to-two lead. Eastern finished with 18 runners left on base in the double-header, as GSU followed with 17. GSU also turned a couple of crucial double plays on the day.
The Panthers will now prepare for an upcoming busy eight-game schedule at the four-day Florida Rebel Spring Games down in Kissimmee during spring on March 10-13, as EIU is set to play Lehigh twice, plus single games versus Army, Creighton, Fairleigh Dickinson, North Dakota, Robert Morris (Penn.), and Saint Peter's.
UT MARTIN 1, PENN 0; UT MARTIN 5, PENN 2
ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team used dominating pitching performances by sophomores Kenzi Tate and Casey Vincent to sweep Penn in the mid-afternoon twinbill by scores of 1-0 and 5-2.
UT Martin 1 – Penn 0
UT Martin sophomore starter Tate (7-1) and Penn counterpart Alexis Borden turned in the definition of a pitcher’s duel. Needing eight innings and the use of the international extra innings rule, in which a runner is placed at second base to start the first extra inning, Tate tallied eight strikeouts while only walking two in the complete game shutout.
Struggling to hit Borden, the Skyhawks capitalized in the top of the eighth inning as Lindsey Feigl was placed on second base to start the inning. After advancing to third on a groundout by senior Becca Williams, Feigl scored the game winning run on a bunt to the pitcher by Katie Reiff.
UT Martin 5 – Penn 2
After seeing the lead change four times, the Skyhawks added four runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out a 5-2 win over Penn in the second game of the doubleheader.
In the circle Vincent (5-3) turned in yet another dominating performance striking out six in seven innings of work. She surrendered just one earned run on five hits and allowed just two walks in the game.
UT Martin jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Jessie Britt started the rally with a single. After advancing on a groundout by Kelsey Dixon, Britt scored the first run of the game on a Leah Taylor single.
The Skyhawks took the lead for good in the sixth inning with Taylor laying down a bunt single to start the bottom of the inning. After Tate was hit by a pitch and Smith singled, Williams broke the game open with a two RBI single into right field plating Taylor and Sam McClure. Stephanie Niddifer and Britt came through with two key insurance runs by dumping singles into left field, plating one run each.
Taylor led the Skyhawks by going 3-for-3 with an RBI and two stolen bases, adding singles in the first, third and sixth innings.