Michigan State University
Ohio St
MSU Softball Splits Doubleheader With Ohio State
4/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 20, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Michigan State softball team split a pair of games Sunday at Ohio State, losing the opener, 2-0, before rolling to an 8-0 win in five innings in game two. The split gives Michigan State a 29-13 overall record and an 8-5 mark in the Big Ten, while Ohio State moved to 23-18 and 4-6 in the conference.
Sophomore Stephanie Christner (Sigourney, Iowa) held Ohio State to just two hits in game two to earn her second win in as many days, improving to 7-5. Christner, who walked one and struck out three, also doubled and drove in a pair of runs in the game for MSU.
Michigan State took an early lead in game two when junior Brittney Green (Simi Valley, Calif.) lofted her fourth home run of the season over the leftfield wall.
The Spartans put the game out of reach with a five-run fourth inning. MSU extended the lead to 3-0 when senior Tiffany Wallace (Wildomar, Calif.) singled and junior Natalie Furrow (San Diego, Calif.) followed with a two-run homer down the right field line. Senior Lacy Hauxhurst (Westminster, Calif.) walked and one out later, Christner doubled high off the left field wall, and Hauxhurst raced around to score from first to put MSU on top, 4-0. Green and junior Jessica Beech (Okemos, Mich.) added back-to-back singles, with pinch-runner Jennifer Diesing (Chelsea, Mich.) scoring on Beech's hit. Green later scored on a wild pitch.
MSU pushed two more runs across in the fifth to end the game. Furrow laced a one-out double to leftcenter, and Hauxhurst followed with a single. Sophomore Janette Hurtado (Rowland Heights, Calif.) bunted for a hit scoring the seventh run of the game, and Christner's sacrifice fly scored Hauxhurst with the final run.
Wallace's single in the fourth inning extended her hitting streak to 14 games. Furrow and Green each had two of MSU's nine hits.
In the opening game, it was another case of missed opportunities, as Michigan State stranded nine runners and twice left the bases loaded while getting shut out, 2-0. Jessica Beech surrendered just three hits, but two of the hits were home runs, accounting for both runs.
Beech struck out seven and walked just one in her six innings on the mound, but dropped her second-straight decision while falling to 20-6.
Michigan State's best chances to score came in the first, sixth and seventh innings. In the first, Sandy Lewis doubled with one out, and one out later, moved to third on a single by Tiffany Wallace. Natalie Furrow walked to load the bases, but Lacy Hauxhurst popped out to third to end the threat.
In the sixth, a walk and an error put the first two runners on base, but they would go no further. Furrow drove the ball deep to centerfield, but Ohio State's Rogeanna Hottinger caught the ball on the warning track.
In the seventh inning, Brittney Green singled with one out, and one out later moved to second when Beech walked. A single off the shortstop's glove by Lewis loaded the bases for freshman Elizabeth Peterson (Anaheim, Calif.), but Peterson struck out to end the game.
Michigan State will visit Oakland for a doubleheader Wednesday (April 23) beginning at 3:30 p.m.
