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Softball Defeats Michigan State 6-5 in Coastal Carolina Tournament, Falls to #16 Missouri 9-0

       

Softball Defeats Michigan State 6-5 in Coastal Carolina Tournament, Falls to #16 Missouri 9-0

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CONWAY, S.C.- The Coastal Carolina softball team was in action today, playing host to the 2009 Coastal Carolina Softball Tournament. The Chants played a pair of contests on day one, defeating the Michigan State Spartans in game two 6-5 and falling to No. 16 Missouri 9-0 in five innings in game three.

 

Sarah Maples (Pasadena, Texas/ Deer Park started off game one against Michigan State with a bang for Coastal Carolina (7-13), blasting a two-run homer over the left centerfield fence to give the Chants the early 2-0 lead.

 

The Spartans (9-12) answered right back in the away half of the second. Lauren Kramer led off the inning with a solo home run to cut the lead in half at 2-1. After a Lindsey Hansen walk, Melanie Bensema doubled to drive in the second run of the game for MSU and tie the game up at 2-2.

 

Ashley Frederick (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) took the start and was solid early on, working her way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third inning.

 

Senior second baseman Kelsey Riffel (Wichita, Kan./Maize) led off the third inning for the Chants with a solo home run to centerfield to give Coastal Carolina the 3-2 lead.

 

Michigan State would again threaten in the fourth inning. Once again, Frederick was up to the task, working her way out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning with help from a heads up play by first baseman Brittany Birnbaum (Chino Hills, Calif./Ayala) to cut a runner off a home plate and got out of the inning after forcing Spartan catcher Kara Weigle to ground out to Maples at short.

 

The big shot of the game came in the Spartan half of the fifth. With a pair of runners on base, MSU second baseman Gina Mondo hit a Frederick offering over the right centerfield fence for a three-run shot to give the Spartans the 5-3 lead.

 

Trailing 5-3 with only six outs left, the Chants were down but not out.  Brittany Bailey (Nokesville, Va./Shenandoah) and Alyssa Tornatore (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) each reached on Spartan errors. Sparkplug Mecaela Ballard (Groves, Texas/Galveston) followed up with an infield single to load the bases full of Chants with no outs. Tornatore scored two pitches later on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 5-4. Riffel would follow with a sacrifice fly to score Bailey, and was followed up with a Birnbaum single to give Coastal Carolina the 6-5 lead heading into the seventh.

 

In the seventh, Frederick retired Kramer and Kara Fox, but followed by allowing an infield single to Spartan slugger Mondo, who advanced to second on a passed ball. With two outs and a runner of second base, Frederick dug deep to strike out Spartan batter Heidi Purtzer to end the game and give the Chants a come-from-behind 6-5 victory.

 

With the win, Frederick improves to 2-3 on the season. She allowed five runs and struck out three Spartans in her third complete game of the season.

 

Spartan pitcher Kelly Confer took the loss after allowing a pair of runs on three hits in two innings of work.

 

The home runs by Maples and Riffel mark the first time this season that the Chants have hit two home runs and one game, while Maples’ dinger was the first non-solo home run of the season for Coastal Carolina.

 

In the 9-0 loss to No. 16 Missouri (19-3), the Chants ran into a buzzsaw of a pitching performance from Tiger hurler Stacy Delaney, who had a no-hit bid broken up in the fifth inning on singles by Riffel and Addie Freeman (Lubbock, Texas/Navarro). In all, Coastal Carolina managed only three baserunners. Third baseman Morgan Dodd (Chattanooga, Tenn./Girls Prep) reach via a free pass in the third inning.

 

The Tigers scored runs in all five innings. Leading 5-0 in the fourth, Missouri batter Lindsey Ubrun hit a three-run jack to extend the Tiger lead to 8-0. The Tigers would add another run in the fifth on a Rhea Taylor RBI single to extend the score to the final tally of 9-0.

 

Katelin Edwards (Greer, S.C./Byrnes) took the start for Coastal Carolina and allowed five earned runs on seven hits in three innings of work. She was relieved by freshman Ivy McCranie (Nashville, Ga./Berrien) in the fourth inning. McCranie would surrender five runs on six hits in her pair of frames in the circle.

 

Delaney allowed the two hits and struck out five Chanticleers to improve to 3-1 on the season.

 

Coastal Carolina will return to action Saturday, March 14 in day two of the Coastal Carolina Tournament with a 2:30 p.m. match-up with the Spartans and a 5 p.m. tilt with No. 15 North Carolina in the second game.