Fall season ends with three wins and a loss for last weekend

Story by Blake Bernier, Staff writer

The Murray State softball team wrapped up its fall season with three wins and one loss last weekend to finish 7-1. During the fall the Racers completed five shutouts and averaged nine runs per game.

“As a pitcher I think it’s so much easier to go out there and pitch your game when you have a defense that’s making plays,” junior pitcher Mason Robinson said. “Pitching to our strengths and not trying to pitch to the batter’s weakness was our main goal as pitchers all fall.”

  The lone loss came against Dyersburg State Community College on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader. Head Coach Kara Amundson said it was a game they let get away from them but it will help them in the long run.

“We gave away too many free bases,” Amundson said. “Too many walks and we didn’t make some routine plays that could’ve helped us get out of inning, but I think games like that are good at this time of year because it helps us understand that it was a lot of mental things that we have to learn from.”

Dyersburg recorded three hits, but walks and errors allowed them to score 11 runs to win 11-10 in an upset against the Racers.

“It is important that my team plays well each time we step on the field,” said Head Coach George White of Dyersburg State. “I am not expecting to beat Division I schools, but if we compete and make the plays, we will be competitive.”

With that attitude, Dyersburg State was able to take advantage of some sloppy plays by the Racers and score several runs, despite the low output in the hitting category.

“One thing led to another and we just let things get out of hand whenever we needed to step up,” said senior third baseman Erica Howard. “But I think it’s something we can learn from and something we will make an adjustment for in the spring.”

In the second game, the Racers came out with a vengeance winning 12-0 against Dyersburg State. Sophomore catcher Julia Liceaga and junior shortstop Maggie Glass each hit a homerun in the blowout. In a relief appearance, freshman pitcher Amber Van Duyse struck out the side and finished the weekend with seven strikeouts.

The 12 run win was the second largest win of the weekend for the Racers. On Oct. 16 against Heartland Community College, the Racers won 18-0. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Racers plated eight runs with one coming off Glass’s bat as she hit her second solo homerun of the game.

In the next inning with a full lineup change the Racers added another six runs. With the bases loaded and two outs, freshman utility player Morgan Edwards delivered a three-run double.

After blowing up for 18 runs the Racers struggled to score in the second game against Heartland but pulled off a win with their closest margin of victory during the fall season 2-0.

“That was the least productive offensive game we’ve had all year,” Amundson said. “Most of our games we were pretty productive offensively.”

Last season the Racers failed to score more than two runs in 10 out of 57 games.

“Our hitting is usually on point but if we have a day that it isn’t we know the pitcher has our back,” Howard said.