Jakob Milani
Staff Writer
Recent struggles continue for the Murray State softball team as they lost two of their three home games to Tennessee Tech University over the weekend.
Despite being the first to score in two of the three games, the Racers still lost two games to the Golden Eagles. The Racers’ only win over the weekend came when the Racers walked off in extra innings.
Game One
The Racers sent out sophomore right-hander Jenna Veber to pitch in the first inning and she made quick work of the Golden Eagles batters, forcing two groundouts and a strikeout through the first three batters. In the bottom of the first, the Racers got the first hit of the game when senior right-fielder Logan Braundmeier singled to right field. She then proceeded to steal second against the Golden Eagles starting pitcher, junior right-hander Haeli Bryson. The Racers could not capitalize on the hit, however, leaving the score tied at 0-0 heading into the second inning.
The Golden Eagles scored the first run of the game in the second inning when senior shortstop Sydney Love-Baker singled up the right side, bringing home senior right fielder Shelby Penning to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, freshman third baseman Carmen Betts scored on a fielding error by freshman catcher Taylor Jackson, giving the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead. In the following at-bat, freshman second baseman Mackenzie Fitzgerald doubled to left-center field, bringing home Love-Baker and sophomore first baseman Paxton Grimes to make it a 4-0 lead. Following the double, graduate right-hander Taylor Makowski came in for Veber and managed to pitch her way out of the inning. The Golden Eagles led the Racers 4-0 after the second inning.
Scoring was scarce after the second inning, with neither team having more than a hit heading into the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, the Racers came alive. After Braundmeier worked a four-pitch walk to start the inning, sophomore third baseman Lily Fischer singled into left field, advancing Braundmeier to second base. Then, senior shortstop Sierra Gilmore doubled down the left-field line to bring Braundmeier home, making the score 4-1.
The Racers weren’t able to score again afterwards despite having two runners on base in the sixth inning and another runner on base in the seventh. Veber took her tenth loss of the season, while Bryson took her sixth win.
Game Two
Junior right-hander Hannah James got the start for game two and held the Golden Eagles to just one hit through the first three innings. Junior right-hander Alyssa Arden was the starting pitcher for the Golden Eagles in game two and pitched just as well as James, also only giving up a single hit in the first three innings.
The first run of the game came from the Golden Eagles in the top of the fourth inning. Fitzgerald led off with a double down the left-field line. In the next at-bat, graduate left fielder Jessie Lowry singled up the middle to bring home Fitzgerald and give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.
The Racers answered in the bottom of the fourth inning when Fischer hit her fourth home run of the season to tie the game at 1-1. The Racers eventually took their first lead of the weekend in the sixth inning when Baundmeier hit her fourth home run of the season to put the Racers up 2-1. The Golden Eagles quickly answered back in the top of the seventh when Betts hit a home run to left field, tying the game at 2-2.
The Racers couldn’t get their walk-off in the seventh and the game went into extra innings. Veber came in to pitch for James in the top of the eighth inning and, despite giving up a hit, held the Golden Eagles scoreless through the ninth inning. The Racers made their move in the bottom of the ninth when graduate first baseman Lexi Jones singled with two outs and Jackson reached first base on an error that allowed Jones to score and give the Racers the win. The Racers took game two in walk-off fashion, defeating the Golden Eagles 3-2.
Game Three
The series was tied at 1-1 and came down to game three to decide the winner. The Racers sent James out to the mound in game three to get the job done. She managed to make it through the first inning despite giving up two hits early on. The Racers were the first team to score thanks to an RBI single from Gilmore to give the Racers a 1-0 lead.
The Racers lead didn’t stand for long as in the top of the second inning Love-Baker hit a home run to tie the game at 1-1. Veber came in to pitch for James after the home run, marking the end of the weekend for James. The Golden Eagles broke the tie in the top of the fourth inning when Lowry grounded out to second base, bringing Grimes in on a sacrifice groundout.
The Golden Eagles came into the sixth inning looking to extend their lead, which is exactly what they did. With Fitzgerald on first and junior catcher Amanda Phy, who was in to pinch runs, on second, Lowry hit a single up the middle to bring Phy home and make it a 3-1 game in favor of the Golden Eagles.
The Racers failed to make their comeback as they went three-up-three-down in the final two innings. The Golden Eagles walked away victorious, defeating the Racers 3-1 and winning the weekend series two games to one. With the game three loss, Veber took her second loss of the weekend and eleventh of the season.
After this past weekend, the Racers sit at 15-23 on the season with a 12-10 conference record. The Racers will pick back up on Friday, April 17, and Saturday, April 18, when they face the Belmont University Bruins at home.
