Eastern Michigan Athletics
Wednesday, April 11
East Lansing, Mich.
4 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
16-21
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Michigan State
11-27
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Eastern Michigan
5
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12
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Michigan State
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Photo by: Kathi Russ
Strong Offensive Showing Lifts Softball Over Spartans
4/11/2012 5:35:00 PM | Softball
Eagles defeat Spartans for the first time since 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — After struggling offensively this past weekend, the Eastern Michigan University softball team's bats found life in its mid-week matchup with Michigan State University this evening, April 11, tallying 12 hits to help itself to a 6-3 win on the road and improve to 16-21 on the year. The win also snaps a six-year losing streak to the Spartans, as the Green and White last defeated MSU on April 28, 2006 by a score of 2-0.
Lauren Wells picked up the win for EMU and improves to 3-9 on the year. The lefty hurler tossed 4.1 innings, striking out four while allowing two earned runs on five hits.
Lindsay Rich threw 2.2 shutout innings in relief and picked up her first career save. She would allow just one hit and strike out two.
Offensively, five Eagles posted multi-hit games, with Amanda Stanton leading the Eagles with two RBI on a 2-for-3 day at the plate.
The entire EMU lineup registered at bats in the first, as the Eagles strung together six hits for five runs. Jessica Richards led off the inning with a single up the middle. The speedy senior followed with her 30th stolen base of the season and later advanced to third on Katy Blaharski's single through the left side of the infield. With runners at the corners, Blaharski took off for second and drew the throw down, allowing Richards to sneak in from third for the Eagles' first run of the ballgame. Nellie Coquillard then dug in at the plate and connected on a double to right-center field, allowing Blaharski to leg it out from first and give the Green and White a 2-0 lead. Coquillard later scored on McKenna Russ' double to left, and Stanton would put the her team up five with a two-run shot over the left field fence to cap off the Eagles' offensive surge in the opening frame.
Two EMU errors in the bottom of the second contributed to an MSU run, but the Eagles did not wait long to respond.
During Richards' at bat in the fourth, a rouge foul ball drilled Blaharski standing in the on-deck circle, forcing Kaylee Tolliver to enter the contest and relieve Blaharski as the pinch hitter. The senior made the most of her at bat, blasting a towering homerun that skimmed the back of the center field fence to help EMU reclaim its five-run lead.
Michigan State's Jayme O'Bryant homered to center in the bottom half of the frame to set the score at 6-2, and the Spartans threatened to add another with a runner at third and one out, but the Eagles managed to turn a 5-3-2 double play to get out of the jam.
The Spartans connected on back-to-back hits to start the fifth, which prompted a pitching change for the Eagles as Rich checked in to take over duties for Wells. The freshman managed to get the next two outs, but the home team would use a long out to center to cut its lead to three.
Michigan State again made noise in the sixth, putting runners at first and second with two outs, but Rich managed to record the final out of the inning with her second strikeout of the contest.
EMU's defensive and pitching efforts remained solid in the final inning of play, helping the Eagles secure the 6-3 victory.
The Green and White will return to action this Friday, April 13, when they head to Bowling Green, Ohio for a Mid-American Conference doubleheader slated for 1 p.m.
Lauren Wells picked up the win for EMU and improves to 3-9 on the year. The lefty hurler tossed 4.1 innings, striking out four while allowing two earned runs on five hits.
Lindsay Rich threw 2.2 shutout innings in relief and picked up her first career save. She would allow just one hit and strike out two.
Offensively, five Eagles posted multi-hit games, with Amanda Stanton leading the Eagles with two RBI on a 2-for-3 day at the plate.
The entire EMU lineup registered at bats in the first, as the Eagles strung together six hits for five runs. Jessica Richards led off the inning with a single up the middle. The speedy senior followed with her 30th stolen base of the season and later advanced to third on Katy Blaharski's single through the left side of the infield. With runners at the corners, Blaharski took off for second and drew the throw down, allowing Richards to sneak in from third for the Eagles' first run of the ballgame. Nellie Coquillard then dug in at the plate and connected on a double to right-center field, allowing Blaharski to leg it out from first and give the Green and White a 2-0 lead. Coquillard later scored on McKenna Russ' double to left, and Stanton would put the her team up five with a two-run shot over the left field fence to cap off the Eagles' offensive surge in the opening frame.
Two EMU errors in the bottom of the second contributed to an MSU run, but the Eagles did not wait long to respond.
During Richards' at bat in the fourth, a rouge foul ball drilled Blaharski standing in the on-deck circle, forcing Kaylee Tolliver to enter the contest and relieve Blaharski as the pinch hitter. The senior made the most of her at bat, blasting a towering homerun that skimmed the back of the center field fence to help EMU reclaim its five-run lead.
Michigan State's Jayme O'Bryant homered to center in the bottom half of the frame to set the score at 6-2, and the Spartans threatened to add another with a runner at third and one out, but the Eagles managed to turn a 5-3-2 double play to get out of the jam.
The Spartans connected on back-to-back hits to start the fifth, which prompted a pitching change for the Eagles as Rich checked in to take over duties for Wells. The freshman managed to get the next two outs, but the home team would use a long out to center to cut its lead to three.
Michigan State again made noise in the sixth, putting runners at first and second with two outs, but Rich managed to record the final out of the inning with her second strikeout of the contest.
EMU's defensive and pitching efforts remained solid in the final inning of play, helping the Eagles secure the 6-3 victory.
The Green and White will return to action this Friday, April 13, when they head to Bowling Green, Ohio for a Mid-American Conference doubleheader slated for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wells, Lauren (3-9)
L: Layne, C. (5-11)
S: Rich, Lindsay (1)
Batting:
2B: Coquillard, Nellie 1 ; Russ, McKenna 1
HR: Tolliver, Kaylee 1 ; Stanton, Amanda 1
RBI: Tolliver, Kaylee 1 ; Coquillard, Nellie 1 ; Russ, McKenna 1 ; Stanton, Amanda 2
SH: Loe, Courtney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Richards, Jessica 1 ; Blaharski, Katy 1 ; Tolliver, Kaylee 1 ; Coquillard, Nellie 1 ; Russ, McKenna 1 ; Stanton, Amanda 1
SB: Richards, Jessica 2
Batting:
2B: Hopkins, K. 2
HR: O'Bryant, J. 1
RBI: Williams, B. 1 ; O'Bryant, J. 1 ; Grant, A. 1
SF: Williams, B. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Padilla, L. 1 ; Bowling, S. 1 ; O'Bryant, J. 1
SB: Cronkhite, R 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
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