MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State softball team will travel to the Peach State to face a daunting slate of foes at the Mercer Bear Invitational this weekend in Macon, Ga.
All four squads in the field own winning records, including the Eagles at 3-2. MSU's opening opponent, Bryant is 4-0, with host Mercer sitting at 4-2 and Troy boasting a 9-4 mark.
Morehead State will open against Bryant on Friday at 11 a.m., then face Mercer at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Eagles will play Mercer at 1:30 p.m. and then Troy at 4 p.m. MSU concludes the tournament against Troy at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. All games will be played at Sikes Field. Friday's contest against Mercer will be Morehead State's first at night this season.
"We're excited to have the opportunity to go to Mercer and continue to learn and grow.," said Morehead State head coach
Megan Griffith. "We're looking forward to the chance to clean up some of the things from last weekend."
The Eagles began their 2024 campaign with five games at the Pinnacle PC Invitational, where they dropped a 13-11 decision against Valparaiso, before bouncing back with wins against host Presbyterian (6-3), Valparaiso (6-2) and Youngstown State (4-2), before falling to Presbyterian (9-1) in five innings.
At the PC Pinnacle Invitational, MSU hit .264, with 28 runs on 37 hits, added 10 doubles, successfully stole 10-of-11 bases, posted a 3.86 ERA and a .955 fielding percentage.
It is the third season in the last four years the Eagles have begun their season 3-2. The 13-11 score in the season opener against Valparaiso was the most MSU runs has scored since tallying 12 on March 17, 2021, and allowed since surrendering 15 on March 19, 2022.
Junior outfielder
Darlene Montoya started off the season on fire, finishing the opening weekend with a .471 batting average, seven RBI, five doubles and scoring four runs. She also boasts .765 slugging percentage and .471 on base percentage. Her five doubles are one quarter of the way to the school single-season record of 20.
Four other players own at least a .300 batting average. Freshman
Sela Pickford is hitting .333 and adds two doubles, two RBI and has scored four runs. Fifth-year outfielder
Trinity Spear, whose stolen base in the season-opener against Valparaiso moved her into 10th place on MSU's career list with 34, is hitting .316, with four RBI, six runs, a double and a homer. Freshman infielder
Kendra Lewis bats .308 and has two RBI. Senior infielder
Peyton Jordan has a hit in all five games this season and is batting .300, with three RBI and four runs.
Freshman
Addie Stem has pitched in all five games and sports a 2-2 record with a 2.07 ERA, 13 strikeouts and 12 walks. She also has one save, which is the team's first since March 19, 2023. Opponents are batting .190 against her. Sophomore pitcher
Jessie Begley is 1-0 with a 6.81 ERA, with four strikeouts and four walks.
Bryant defeated Hampton (7-6), Coppin State (4-2) and Norfolk State (14-6 and 5-3) last weekend on the road at the Battle of the Bay in Virginia's Tidewater area.
Among the regulars, graduate student outfielder Olyvia Smith leads the Bulldogs with a .500 batting average. Sophomore utility player Hannah Cochran is hitting .467 and has seven RBI. Senior utility player Alexis Clancy owns a .400 batting average and graduate student infielder Aleix Hudson adds a .308 batting average, a home run, four RBI and six runs scored.
In the circle, freshman Grace McKillop has a 2-0 record, along with a 0.54 ERA, 10 strikeouts and five walks. Senior Caroline Paolantonio is 1-0 with a 4.42 RA, four strikeouts and three walks.
Bryant leads the all-time series, 1-0, having defeated the Eagles 13-2 in five innings on March 13, 2022, in Greenville, N.C.
"We open with Bryant. They have a few hitters with power and some speed players. We really focused on the speed of play this week at practice to prepare," coach Griffith said. "Keys to win for us with Bryant are making the routine plays routinely and sticking to our plan offensively."
Mercer opened its season with three wins at its Heart of Georgia Classic two weeks ago, defeating Dayton (5-3) and Drexel (11-9 and 12-5), and dropping the final contest to Dayton 2-0. The Bears followed with a 10-2, five-inning win over Georgia State in a mid-week road outing. The team was supposed to play a tournament last weekend in Jacksonville, Fla., but it was cancelled. On Wednesday, it fell to Georgia Southern 8-0 in six innings in Statesboro, Ga.
Mercer is hitting .333 as a team and has an incredible 11 home runs. The Bears are 3-1 at home this spring.
Redshirt junior outfielder Hallie Langford owns a .526 batting average. Junior infielder Tori Hedgecock is hitting .462, with three homers, eight RBI and nine runs. She also has a 1.308 slugging percentage and a .662 on base percentage. Junior infielder Kassidy Moore follows with a .412 batting average, adding four homers, 12 RBI and eight runs.
Freshman pitcher Gabby Ellis owns an 0-2 record, but a 2.03 ERA, with two walks and a strikeout. Four different hurlers are 1-0, with sophomore Grace Taylor having pitched the most innings (8.2), and adding a 3.23 ERA, a walk and a strikeout.
Mercer owns a 2-1 series lead, with two games coming in 1992 in Fort Myers, Fla. The most recent game was a 2-0 Bears' win at the Mercer Classic in 2004.
"Mercer and Troy are both strong competition," coach Griffith said. "For Mercer, our keys to win are keeping the hitters off balance and using our pitchers' deception to our advantage. Offensively, we're looking for elite execution at the plate and on the base paths."
Troy is playing its first road game of the season. It went 4-2 at the Trojan Classic this past weekend, with wins over Florida A&M (11-3 and 10-1) and Gardner-Webb (9-1 and 4-2), but dropped a pair of games against No. 21 Indiana (8-1 and 2-1). Among the teams Troy has played this year is Ohio Valley Conference rival UT Martin, which the Trojans beat 7-4 and 7-3.
TU is batting .315 as a team. Senior outfielder D'Aun Biggs is hitting .415 and has scored 11 runs. Junior utility player Taylor McKinney and senior outfielder Jade Sinness are each batting .400. McKinney has seven RBI, while Sinness has 14 and a team-high two home runs.
Senior Libby Baker is 4-1 with a 2.33 ERA, plus 17 strikeouts and 11 walks. Freshman Alyssa Faircloth owns a 4-0 mark, a 2.38 ERA, 15 strikeouts and 10 walks. Senior Haley Pittman is 1-1 with a 2.52 ERA, 11 strikeouts and seven walks.
The meeting between MSU and Troy will be the first ever.
"Our keys to win for Troy are keeping the hitters off balance and executing defense behind our pitchers," Griffith said. "Offensively, we'll need to have a high level of execution and be aggressive on the bases."
Morehead State has two weeks off before returning to the diamond to face Tennessee State in a three-game series on Mar. 9-10, in the OVC opener for both squads.
