April 24, 2004

MSU Game 1 Box Score

MSU Game 2 Box Score

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Southeast Missouri State and Morehead State split their softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in Morehead, Ky. The Otahkians took the first game, 3-1, but the Eagles rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to steal the victory away from the Otahks the nightcap, 4-3.

Southeast Missouri scored first in the matinee. Jamie Birk led off the second with an infield single and eventually scored on a single by Lindsay Pickering. The bats were quiet until the sixth inning, when Southeast pumped out three hits in the frame. Kelly Birk led off the sixth with a double to left center and after a sacrifice, and back-to-back singles by Alana Bagby-Leonard and Pickering, came home to give the Otahkians a 2-0 lead.

A leadoff double by Amy Murphy in the seventh led to another run. Victoria Torrez's suicide squeeze plated Murphy to push the margin to 3-0. The Eagles were able to get on the board in the bottom of the frame. Jessie Chin walked and then moved around the bases on singles by Summer McGill and Michelle McCrady to score their only run.

Amy Fahnestock earned the win, with a complete-game, six-hitter. She allowed three walks and struck out five in improving to 6-9. Stephanie Hernandez fell to 5-9, after yielding seven hits and a walk, and two earned runs, while striking out three.

Pickering finished the game 2-for-3 for the Otahks, while M. McCrady led MSU at the plate at 2-for-4.

In the second game, K. Birk got the game off to a quick start with her first inning home run over the right field fence. The Otahkians built the lead to 3-0, after J. Birk doubled to right field in the third, plating Suzi Lair and Torrez.

The Eagles made a change in the circle to Jacque Jackson and after a rough opening inning when she loaded the bases with no outs, but prevented the Otahkians from scoring, seemed to slow down the visitor's bats .

MSU scored its first run in the fourth inning after three straight singles, the last by Jolene Workman which scored Amanda McCrady. K. Birk pitched impressively throughout the next 2.1 innings, as the Eagles picked up an unearned run in the sixth.

Becky King singled to lead off the stanza and then A. McCrady blooped a single just inside the left field line to put runners on first and second. King advanced to third on a fielding error and then scored on a wild pitch to cut the margin to 3-2.

Southeast Missouri had another chance to score in the seventh after a double by K. Birk and a single by J. Birk had runners on second and third with two outs. However, the Otahkians failed to score.

SEMO changed back to Hunter to start the seventh inning, but Hunter struggled. After getting the first two outs, she walked M. McCrady, then gave up back-to-back singles by Lyndsey Jackson and King to load the bases. A. McCrady ripped a hard shot passed the shortstop and into left field, which scored M. McCrady and Jackson to end the game.

J. Birk went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead SEMO, while her sister, K. Birk added two hits, a run and an RBI. While Pickering had another impressive game at the plate, going 1-for-1 with one walk. Amanda McCrady finished 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs, while King and Liz McGonnigal each also picked up two hits for the Eagles.

Jacque Jackson earned the win in relief for MSU, her first victory of the season. Jackson surrendered six hits, but no runs, while striking out two. Hunter took the loss after giving up eight hits and three earned runs. She also walked two and struck out two.

The two teams will conclude the series with a single game tomorrow. Game time has been pushed up an hour to 11:00 a.m., due to the possibility of storms in Morehead.