Michigan State University
Tennessee St
Spartan Softball Splits In Day Two Action Of Winthrop Invitational
3/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 16, 2002
ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Michigan State softball team split a pair of games to finish 2-2 in pool play in day two action of the Winthrop Invitational Saturday afternoon (March 16). MSU beat St. Peter's, 5-1, in game one, but fell to Winthrop, 3-2 in eight innings, in game two. The Spartans now stand at 9-15 for the season. MSU finished in second-place in pool play and will play Jacksonville State tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the silver bracket.
Michigan State scored all five of its runs in the last three innings of game one to defeat St. Peter's, 5-1. Robyn Golden (Jr., Belleville/Belleville) broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fifth as she hit a solo homer, her fourth on the season and second in as many days, over the right-center field fence. Golden went 3-for-3 in the game.
MSU added a run in the sixth on a throwing error by the St. Peter's second baseman that brought home Lauren Pedersen (Fr., Portage/Central).
St. Peter's (5-2) scored its lone run in the bottom half of the sixth but stranded the bases loaded to end the inning. The Spartans put the game away with three runs in the seventh. Natalie Furrow (So., San Diego, Calif./Mills E. Godwin) and Amanda Melton (Sr., Saugus, Calif./Saugus) each had RBI singles for the Spartans in the inning.
Keri DeJong (Sr., Portage/Kalamazoo Christian) threw 4.1 innings of relief to earn her second win of the season on the mound (2-3).
In game two, Winthrop (7-13) scored the game-winning run on a suicide squeeze in the top of the eighth inning to defeat the Spartans, 3-2. It was the game's first run since MSU tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third.
MSU took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Furrow single that drove in Margaret Schick (Jr., Grass Lake/Chelsea). Furrow went 3-for-7 with three RBI on the day and extended her hitting streak to eight games.
Winthrop rallied for two runs in the third, but Tiffany Wallace's (Jr., Wildomar, Calif./Pacifica) sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning tied the game at 2-2.
MSU had a chance to take the lead in the fifth. Schick was on at second and rounded third on a Furrow single, but was gunned down at the plate by Eagle center fielder Janiva Willis for the second out of the inning.
Jennifer Diesing (Fr., Chelsea/Chelsea) entered the game in the sixth and got out of a two-out bases loaded jam to end the inning, but gave up the winning run in the eighth to get the loss for MSU (0-1).
Game Summaries:
Game One Summary R H EMSU 000 011 3- 5 9 1ST. P 000 001 0- 1 3 2
WP: DeJong-MSU (2-3)LP: Attanasio-St. Peter's
Game Two Summary R H EWU 002 000 01- 3 5 4MSU 101 000 00- 2 4 0
WP: Johnson-(6-5)LP: Diesing-MSU (0-1)
