FRIDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 8, @Eastern Illinois 0 (6)
@SIUE 8, Austin Peay 0 (5)
@SIUE 1, Austin Peay 0
MURRAY STATE 8, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - For the second time in three games, Murray State pitcher Mason Robinson pitched a perfect game, as the Racers defeated Eastern Illinois, 8-0 in six innings, at Williams Field in Charleston, Illinois. The day’s second game could not be played due to heavy rains and field conditions and was postponed to Saturday at Noon.
Robinson retired all 18 batters she faced in the contest, striking out seven in the process. The shutout was her seventh of the season, a new program single-season mark. Robinson’s no-hitter was the fourth in Murray State program history, she is now tied with Chelsey Sullivan for the most all-time with two.
Jessica Twaddle got Murray State going in the game when she belted a two-out home run in the top of the first to give her team an early 1-0 advantage. In the third, Mallory Young led off the frame for Murray State with a single and then advanced to second on an error.
After being sacrificed to third by Erika Downey, Brenna Finck scored Young with a single to up the lead to 2-0. After Kaylee Ranburger reached on a single in the next at bat, Finck and Ranburger executed a double steal to make it 3-0 Murray State.
In the sixth, Murray State made it an 8-0 game with a two-run home run from Jocelynn Rodgers and three-run blast from Maggie Glass. In the bottom of the sixth, Robinson retired the last three batters of the game to give MSU the win via the eight-run rule.
Murray State finished the game with six hits, three of which were home runs, with all six coming from a different Racer. EIU’s Jessica Wireman took the loss in the game after allowing eight runs, two of which were earned, on six hits, despite striking out 10 Racers.
With the win, their sixth in a row, Murray State improved to 34-14 overall and 10-5 in OVC play, while the loss dropped EIU to 25-18 on the year and 9-4 in the conference.
SIUE 8, AUSTIN PEAY 0; SIUE 1, AUSTIN PEAY 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - After more than a four-hour rain delay Friday, SIUE softball's pitching was fantastic with a pair of shutouts over Austin Peay.
SIUE regained second place in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-0 win in five innings and a 1-0 victory in the nightcap.
Senior left-hander Haley Chambers-Book tossed a two-hit shutout in the opener for her 23rd victory of the season. Freshman right-hander Emily Ingles took a no-hitter into the seventh before finishing off the Governors on a one-hitter.
It was SIUE's 14th and 15th shutout of the season. The Cougars pitching staff lowered its team earned run average to 1.78.
SIUE's offense came out hard after the rain delay, scoring three runs in the first inning off Austin Peay starter Kelsey Gross.
Alyssa Heren opened the game by drawing a walk on four pitches. Chambers-Book immediately put the Cougars up 1-0 on a double that tailed away from the Governors' center fielder in the left-center field gap. Reagan Curtis added a single to left field that moved Chambers-Book over to third. Allison Smiley picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and Kalei Kaneshiro added her own RBI on a single to left field that scored Curtis, who stole her base of the season to get into scoring position.
Zoe Schafer put the Cougars up 4-0 in the second inning on a RBI single that brought home Tess Eby.
The lead expanded to seven in the third inning on a two-RBI single by Heren and another RBI hit by Chambers-Book.
The Cougars won in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the fifth. Eby reached on a fielder's choice and then rounded the bases on Heren's double to right field.
SIUE had 12 hits total, including at least one from every starter. Heren, Chambers-Book and Amy Hunt had two hits each.
Chambers-Book struck out nine in the win.
In game two, SIUE's offense collected seven hits but just one run.
In the third inning, Eby singled up the middle and was replaced at first by pinch runner Jane Smith. On the first pitch to Heren, Smith stole second. Smith moved to third base on an infield grounder to second base. Chambers-Book provided her second game-winning hit of the day with a double to left field.
Ingles was dominant in the circle with 10 strikeouts. The only hit she allowed was a blooper to right field by Christiana Gable with one out in the seventh.