Story by Collin Morris, Contributing writer
Murray State Softball elevated their fall record to 3-1 following their two victories against Union University in their doubleheader on Sunday.
The Racers came away with a win early in the day, beating Union University 8-0. After a dry first two innings, Head Coach Kara Amundson was pleased with how her players’ ability to
“The first game went great,” Amundson said. “It was the third inning before we really started scoring some big runs but our defense did the work and our hitters were cold the first two innings but we made the adjustments we needed to and found a way to score runs.”
The same held true in the second game. After a 4-1 first inning in favor of the Bulldogs and a 0-0 second innings, Murray State put up 5 more runs to pull away and finish the game with a score 6-4. Amundson attributed the turnaround to her team’s attitude and ability to adjust.
“I think it took us a little time in both games to pick up on their pitchers a little bit and make some adjustments for ourselves offensively,” Amundson said. “It’s just a mentality to realize that their pitcher is doing a good job but we can do better. I think we made the adjustments and stayed super positive and it turned out for the better.”
Haven Campbell, junior pitcher, came into the game in the third inning as an early relief for Ellison Barrett, freshman pitcher, and held the Bulldogs hitless in that inning.
“I just tried to come in and do my job,” Campbell said. “I wanted to help my team out and help my defense out — just do my best and attack early.”
The team’s fall season is a series of eight exhibition games, which gives Amundson and her staff an opportunity to test varying lineups and see their freshman perform for the first time. Amundson took advantage of the opportunity, utilizing 17 different players of the course of the day and experimenting with a lineup full of speedy slap hitters.
“With how the fall works we want to make sure we get different lineups out there,” Amundson said. “We had a lot of lefty speed kids in the lineup today, which traditionally hasn’t been how we do things but it worked out and made the defense miss a lot. It worked out for us today.”
The Murray State Softball team will continue their fall season at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Oct 15 at Racer Field in yet another double header against Asbury University.
