Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
INDIANA*
State Softball Splits Sunday Doubleheader With Indiana
4/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 25, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Freshman Dayna Feenstra was 6-for-8 on the day, including going 4-for-4 in Michigan State softball's second game of the day, and three Spartans hit home runs, including two round-trippers from Brittney Green, as MSU split its Sunday doubleheader with Indiana at Old College Field Sunday. MSU took the first game in 10 innings, 6-4, and lost the second, 8-3. State's record stands at 26-21 overall and 6-10 in the Big Ten, while Indiana is 28-27, 4-10 in league play.
Feenstra had a double and two runs scored on the day, while Green's first home run of the day was a walk-off run to win the first game in the bottom of the 10th inning. Seniors Angel Merren and Jessica Beech also homered for the Spartans on the day.
State put its first runs on the board in third inning of the first game, as Merren singled and Nicole Mercado reached on a fielder's choice. On the next play of the game, Beech notched her fourth home run of the season to score both base runners and make the score 3-0. Indiana scored four runs in the fifth inning, as third baseman Rachel Terry singled and scored on an error by Green, the Spartan third baseman. A wild pitch scored Heather Hohs, who singled to reach base, and a home run from pinch hitter Heather Stillians made the score 4-3.
Merren posted her second home run of the year to tie the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Spartans had two runners on base, but could not muster another run, and the score remained 4-4 until the bottom of the 10th inning. Both pitchers, MSU's Beech and Purdue's Megan Roark, worked 1-2-3 innings from the top of the eighth inning to the top of the 10th. In the Michigan State 10th, Natalie Furrow singled to left with one out, and two plays later, Green launched her fifth home run of the season to make the final score 6-4.
 Brittney Green hit her fifth and sixth home runs of the season Sunday, including a walk-off two-run shot in the 10th inning of the first game.  | |
In the second game, Indiana scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the first inning. State answered with two of its own in the top of the second, as Green went yard for the second time of the day, driving in Feenstra who reached on a single down the right field line. The score stayed 3-2 in Indiana's favor until the bottom of the second, as the Spartans gave up five runs on four hits and two errors.
MSU had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the fourth but wasn't able to score a run, as the Spartans left all three runners on to end the inning with the score still 8-2. State got a run in the top of the sixth, as Feenstra singled and moved around the bases on three wild pitches from IU pitcher Roark, who again came into the game to relieve Mariangee Bogado. Though the Spartans had runners at first and third with no outs, they were not able to convert a run. In the top of the seventh, State again loaded the bases, but couldn't push a run across, giving Indiana the 8-3 victory.
MSU's Christy McGrew (4-4) took the loss. She threw 1.1 innings, and allowed five runs, three earned, on four hits. She struck out one. Beech came in to relieve her in the second inning, and faced four batters, as she allowed three unearned runs on three hits. Freshman Jackie Noble finished the game for State, as she threw 4.2 innings and gave up just three hits and walked one. Bogado (15-14) got the win for the Hoosiers, as she allowed two earned runs on four hits and two bases on balls. She struck out six Spartan batters.
Green, Peterson and Mercado were all 1-for-3 for the Spartans in the second game of the day. Green added two RBI and a run scored.
Michigan State hosts Eastern Michigan in a single game Wednesday, April 28 at 4 p.m. before a home-and-home series with Michigan Friday, April 30 in Ann Arbor, and Saturday, May 1 at Old College Field in East Lansing.
