MOREHEAD, Ky. – It finally all came together for the Morehead State softball team in Friday's opening game of its home series with Southern Indiana. The Eagles hit, pitched and fielded well en route to a 9-0, five-inning victory at the University Field at Prefontaine Park in Morehead, Ky. It was the Eagles' first win since February 15.
MSU coach
Megan Griffith succinctly summarized her team's play.
"It was a good team win today," she said. "(The) offense did a great job at the plate. Rylie (Burney) pitched well and defense played strong behind her."
The biggest story of the day was the play of Burney (1-12), who went the distance to earn the win. She allowed four hits and two walks, while striking out three in her first shutout as a Division I pitcher. Things were going so well she even thwarted a Screaming Eagle threat by starting a double play in the fourth inning. The junior transfer from Lake Land (Ill.) College allowed the fewest walks in a game this season in which she pitched at least five innings.
Listen to Burney talk about the game and her performance on MSU's YouTube channel.
Morehead State (2-25/1-6) used a nine-tun third inning to separate itself from the Screaming Eagles. Although no official records are kept on runs in an inning, MSU has only scored nine runs once this year and in that game the most it tallied in an inning was five. In the last 10 years, it has scored nine or more runs in 31 contests.
One of the team's big bats in the third inning came from senior center fielder
Darlene Montoya.
Watch Montoya discuss the game on MSU's YouTube channel.
MSU sent 13 runners to the plate in that frame, generating nine hits and benefitting from two errors. Sophomore left fielder
Maddy Christopher led off with a bunt and then stole second. Junior first baseman
Jordan Donato followed with a single and junior right fielder
Taikibrea Campbell drove both runners home with a double that rolled just inside the first base line. Then sophomore shortstop
Sela Pickford and freshman second baseman
Victoria Spencer registered back-to-back singles, before Montoya blasted her shot over the center-field fence.
Southern Indiana picked up its first out and then freshman designated player
Nyla Doiron doubled to left field with a shot that bounced off the fence. Senior catcher
Ilencia Lightbody singled, Christopher moved everyone up on a sacrifice bunt and then Donato singled to left-center field to score two. Campbell struck out, but reached on a passed ball and Donato was able to come home on a throwing error during that play. The inning finally ended with a ground out.
Southern Indiana (5-16/2-4) had its best chance to get on the board in the fourth, when it loaded the bases, but a line drive to Burney, who threw over to sophomore
Kendra Lewis at third base, resulted in a double play. Burney then completed the inning with a strikeout.
The Eagles had hits in three of their four innings and only stranded three base runners all game.
Caroline Stapleton collected a single in the top of the fifth, but she was the Screaming Eagles' lone baserunner in the frame.
For the second straight weekend, MSU roughed up one of the top pitchers in the Ohio Valley Conference as it sent reigning Pitcher of the Year Josie Newman to her 10th defeat of the season (against three wins). Newman went the distance but surrendered nine runs on 12 hits. She had five strikeouts and no walks.
Morehead State's 12 hits were its second most of the season. All nine Eagles that came to the plate got at least one and eight of the nine scored. Donato (2-for-2, two runs, two RBI), Lewis (2-for-3) and Spencer (2-for-3, one run, one RBI) led the way. Montoya had a game high three RBI. Pickford (1-for-3, one run), Doiron (1-for-3, one run), Lightbody (1-for-3, one run), Christopher (1-for-1, one run) and Campbell (1-for-2, one run, one RBI) also generated offense.
Stapleton paced the visitors with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.
USI fell to 2-6 away from home this season. It was the Eagles' first home win since Mar. 23, 2024, and its first run-rule victory since toppling Western Illinois 10-2 in six innings on Mar. 29, 2024.
Southern Indiana leads the all-time series 7-5, but MSU is ahead 4-2 in games in Morehead. The victory also snapped a four-game skid to USI.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday, with game one slated to begin at noon and game two expected to start around 2:30 p.m.
Live stats are available for all three games and can be found at:
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=5714494 (Game 2) and
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=571443 (Game 3).
Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+. The noon start can be viewed at the link:
https://shorturl.at/r8wdb, with the finale at the link:
https://shorturl.at/bLA94.
Morehead State will close out a four-game home stand on Wednesday when it hosts Bellarmine for a single game at 3 p.m.
