Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Tennessee Tech
Racers Inaugural Season Comes to an End at the OVC Championship
5/14/2010 9:00:00 PM | Softball
The Murray State softball team had its inaugural season come to an end in its second game of the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship. The Racers (22-29, 11-11 OVC) fell to Tennessee Tech, 6-3, at Bettye Giles Field in Martin, Tenn.
"I like how we played throughout the tournament. We competed in both games and we made some mistakes, but compete well both days," said head coach Jay Pyron. "The team knows that we have the quality of team to still be competing in the tournament and that is a lesson that we need to hold on to for next year."
MSU tallied nine hits in the game, with freshman Megan Belio, sophomore Megan Glosser and junior Stephanie Mattocks each contributing three. Freshman Kaitlyn England tallied two RBIs in the game, while Glosser added one.
For her efforts over the tournament Mattocks was one of the 12 OVC players to be named to the All-Tournament Team. Mattocks hit .625 (5-for-8) in the two games of the tournament, while earning two RBI's when she hit her third home run of the season against Eastern Illinois.
The Golden Eagles (26-29) got on the scoreboard early, with three runs in the top of the first inning. The Racers had runners on second and third in the bottom of the inning, but were unable to get a run across the plate.
Both team's then stepped up their defense over the next three innings and the score held at 3-0 in favor of TTU through the hour and 20 minute rain delay in the third inning and the fourth.
The Golden Eagles added to their lead in the top of the fifth, making the score 4-0. That is until MSU got its offense going to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning. Freshman Megan Belio led off the inning with a single down the left field line and was followed on base by sophomore Megan Glosser when she was hit by a pitch. Junior Jenna Bradley moved Belio to third with a fielder's choice. Freshman Ellyn Troup drew a walk to load the bases, which allowed a fielder's choice by freshman Kaitlyn England to score two runs.
TTU added two more runs in the top of the sixth, but MSU again countered with one run in the bottom of the inning. Belio hit a single in the gap between third and short and came around to score when Glosser reached on a throwing error by the third baseman that allowed her to reach third. That made the score 6-3 and would be the final run to cross the plate for either team.
Quotes
Head Coach Jay Pyron
"To make the conference tournament as a first-year team is a credit to our players. It is not the ultimate goal that we were looking for, but it is something that we recognize as a special achievement for us."
"Across the board we could have played a little better in the tournament. We saw good moments from both our offense and pitching staff, but there were also moments that we let slip away from us."
"The team learned a lot of important lessons this season, the biggest being that you are never out of a game, with the ability that we have to generate and score runs. The season is long and you just have to play your game no matter if things are going good or if they are going bad."
Junior Stephanie Mattocks
"We are frustrated that we are out of the tournament, but we will learn from this for next season."
