MOREHEAD, Ky. — The Morehead State softball team completed its first day of the Evansville Invitational dropping a pair of contests on Saturday. Oakland won the first game 2-1, with host Evansville capturing the second outing 11-0 and cutting the contest to only five innings.
The results dropped MSU to 0-11 on the season. Four of the team's games have been decided in the sixth inning or later and three times by just one run.
The Eagles played tough with a Golden Grizzlies' squad that pushed No. 3 Florida State to the limit on the road before dropping a one-run decision on Wednesday.
"There were a lot of great highlights, especially when it came to defense -- our outfielders throwing out runners at home; we finished plays and were able to get the trail runner; our defense made some big outs with some ESPN plays and diving catches," MSU coach
Samantha Jones said. "I was really proud of the team on the way they commanded that game defensively."
Oakland (4-5) plated one runner in the third and another in the fifth to take a 2-0 lead. The latter score came on a Cammie Brummitt solo home run.
MSU quelled an even greater Golden Grizzly offensive surge in the third by getting two outs at third base and another at home plate, the latter coming on a throw from sophomore center fielder
Trinity Spear to senior catcher
Peyton Slater.
The Eagles managed to score in the final inning of game one but ultimately could not complete the comeback. The run came on a
Taylor Rhea sacrifice fly to second baseman Jessie Munson that allowed freshman shortstop Illencia Lightbody to race home.
Slater and
Ieesha Christian each continued their on-base streak, with Slater reaching safely on her ninth straight game, with Christian's mark now at seven. Slater, Christian, Rose and Illencia Lightbody each collected one hit.
Although the Eagles fell short, sophomore
Lennon Spicer (0-6) had a nice outing only giving up five hits and two earned runs through six innings. She also struck out two and walked three.
Brummitt and Madison Jones each had two hits to pace Oakland. Sydney Campbell (2-0) went the distance in the circle, yielding one earned run, four hits and one walk, while striking out seven.
In game two, the Eagles found the going tough offensively, registering no hits in the five innings of play. Evansville (12-5) put one of its best pitchers in the circle, Izzy Vetter, who entered with a record of 8-1 and an ERA of just 1.07. Evansville seemed to do no wrong, collecting 11 runs on 11 hits.
MSU kept the Purple Aces off the scoreboard in the first inning by retiring all three batters. However, the hosts came back to score twice in both the second and third stanzas. Evansville put together a big fourth inning by scoring seven times on five hits and capitalizing on a pair of errors. Six of the Purple Aces runs in the frame were unearned.
Still, Jones was impressed with the efforts of her team in the field.
"We faced a really good hitting team and they did a really good job of putting the ball in play. Our defense did a good job of stopping the big hits, (preventing them from turning them) into numerous runs throughout the whole game," she said. "I wish we had a little bit more time to be able to adjust in our at-bats (so that we would) be able to put some more runs on the board."
Lightbody helped the Eagles mount a small threat in the second inning when she drew a one-out walk and then stole second. She has now reached base in six consecutive games.
Freshman
Madi Ogden suffered the loss to fall to 0-5. She allowed eight hits and four walks, but only five earned runs. She also struck out three. Freshman
Maya Morris came in for relief with two outs in the fourth and surrendered three hits and a run.
Vetter improved to 9-1 on the season with the win. She finished with 12 strikeouts.
The Eagles (0-11) are still looking for their first win on the season with two more games in the UE Invitational on Sunday against Green Bay (6-9) and Bowling Green (7-4). The games will be played at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
