TUESDAY'S SCORES
Memphis 5,
@Murray State 1
@Murray State 9, Memphis 1
@Saint Louis 7,
SIUE 2
@Jacksonville State 3, UAB 1
SAINT LOUIS 7, SIUE 2
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - SIUE softball closed out the nonconference regular season schedule Tuesday with a 7-2 loss to Saint Louis at the Billiken Sports Center.
The Cougars left at least one runner on base in every inning and stranded 11 overall. SIUE outhit the Billikens 7-6.
SIUE, 38-12, will look to rebound this weekend for a three-game series to close out the Ohio Valley Conference regular season at Eastern Illinois.
The Cougars lead the OVC with a 19-4 league record and will be looking to clinch the top seed for the conference tournament. One more OVC win will break SIUE's mark for most OVC wins in a single season.
On Tuesday, Saint Louis hurler Maddie Baalman was the winning pitcher, improving to 10-6. She struck out three and walked five. Baylee Douglass took the loss for the Cougars and is now 16-6. She struck out four and walked two.
Allie McFarland's home run was all the Billikens needed in the win as Saint Louis led 3-0 after the first inning. Her two-run homer was her eighth of the season. The Billikens improved to 33-16.
SIUE scored single tallies in the second and seventh inning.
In the second inning, Tess Eby reached on a one-out, infield error and was bunted over to second by Brittany Toney. Haley Adrian then singled through the left side of the infield to drive home Eby.
In the seventh, Rachel Keller reached on a fielder's choice and scored on a triple by Alex McDavid. It was McDavid's second triple and 18th extra-base hit of the season.
MEMPHIS 5, MURRAY STATE 1; MURRAY STATE 9, MEMPHIS 1
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State softball split its final home and non-conference games of the regular-season with regional rival Memphis Tuesday at Racer Field. The Racers fell 5-0 in the opener, but bounced back with a 9-1, five inning win in game two.
In game one, hits were tough to come by for Murray State (33-17), as they were held to just three. Despite the low number of hits, the Racers still had their chances but left six runners stranded and went 0-for-10 in the game with runners on.
Meanwhile, Memphis (17-32) not only got hits in quantity but also in quality. The 11 hits by the Tigers was just the sixth time this season that an opponent has hit in double-digits on the Racers. Memphis was also got timely hitting, going 5-for-12 with runners on and 4-for-7 in RBI opportunities.
All three of MSU’s hits in the contest went for extra bases with Jessica Twaddle and Shelbey Miller getting doubles and Alexa Becker tallying a triple. In the circle, CheyAnne Gaskey took the loss to fall to 17-9 on the year after she allowed four runs on six hits with two strikeouts and a walk in 2.1 innings. Haven Campbell, however, was solid in relied and allowed just one run on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks over 4.2 innings.
In game two, Murray State flipped the script and pounded out nine runs on nine hits to end the game early after five innings. Erica Howard was a perfect 2-for-2 off the bench for the Racers in the finale, tallying a triple and scoring a run. Jessica Twaddle was 2-for-3 in the game with a double, two RBIs, a walk and a run, while Mo Ramsey was 2-for-4 with a run. Alexa Becker also had a good second game, finishing at 1-for-1 with two runs, a RBI and two walks.
Mason Robinson moved to 13-5 with the win, tossing her 11th complete game of the season. She gave up just one run on five hits in the contest, while striking out two and walking three.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, UAB 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Timely hitting and Whitney Gillespie's complete game helped the Jacksonville State softball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule with a 3-1 win over UAB on Tuesday night at University Field.
Gillespie allowed just one run in the first inning and then kept the Blazers (30-16) off of the board the rest of the way, while the Gamecocks (32-15) gave her just enough support to sweep the season series from their in-state rival.
JSU answered the Blazers first-inning run with two in the home half of the frame and held on, getting key defensive plays and stranding seven Blazer runners. After a Hayley Davis RBI double put that first run on the board for UAB, JSU mounted a threat of its own.
A one-out single from Savannah Sloan started it, and a double to left center from Sara Borders followed. Borders' 55th career double, third-most in school history, extended her streak of consecutive games reaching base to 33, one that started on March 6 against Wright State.
Cadi Oliver was hit by Megan Smith's pitch to load the bases, the first of five hit batters for the Gamecocks on the night. Stephanie Lewis laced Smith's next pitch off the glove of a leaping Caitlin Attfield at shortstop to score Sloan and Borders then scored on a wild pitch to give JSU the early 2-1 lead.
UAB mounted threats, putting runners on in five of the last six innings, but the Gamecocks kept them off of the board. Gillespie (10-5) struck out four and got a few big plays by her defense to earn her third complete game of the year. She allowed the one run on eight hits and just one walk.
UAB seemed to put rallies together a few times, but freshman Emily Woodruff gunned Danii Fernandez at the plate to erase a leadoff error in the fifth. A heads up play from second baseman Jordan Bullock stopped Heather Pearson from stretching a leadoff single into a double in the sixth.
The Gamecocks put an insurance run on the board in the fifth on an Oliver single, her second of the game.
Smith (14-7) took the loss for UAB after allowing two runs on five hits and two hit batters in 2 1/3 innings. Cara Goodwin tossed the final 3 2/3 innings and allowed one run o two hits, two walks and three hit batters.
Oliver and Sloan each went 2-for-3 for the Gamecocks in the win, with Sloan scoring twice. Bullock and Borders each doubled for JSU in the win.