Michigan State University
13-10
Youngstown State
5-10
Bats Come Alive In Win Over Youngstown State.
3/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Macon, Georgia-- Michigan State opened the Mercer Bears Classic with a 7-3 win over Youngstown State on Friday morning, behind a season-best 11 hits - including a 3-for-3 effort by senior Alyssa McBride and a pair of hits each for Lea Foerster, McKenzie Long, and Stephanie Sanders. Kristina Zalewski picked up the win, her ninth of the season, going 6.1 innings, striking out seven and scattering five hits.
"Our bats got going a little," said head coach Jacquie Joseph. "But again, it's not just one game where we're looking for that - it's a battle to not only get them going, but keep them going. We have another game here today, so we'll see how it carries over."
The Spartans took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Shanin Thomas led off with a walk, and was sacrificed to second by McKenzie Long. Stephanie Sanders singled to left center to put a pair on, and after Gutknecht flied out to center, Stoffer doubled down the left field line to score both Sanders and Thomas, providing the Spartans a two-run advantage.
The Penguins countered in the top of the third to trim MSU's lead to 2-1. With two outs, freshman Cali Mikovich smacked her fourth home run of the season over the center field wall on the first pitch she saw, and Miranda Castiglione hit a first-pitch single through the left side. Stevie Taylor walked to put a pair on for Brittney Moffatt, but she grounded out to short to halt the Penguin rally.
The Spartans wasted little time in getting the run back. Freimuth led off the inning with a five-pitch walk, and then was sacrificed to second by McBride. Foerster singled up the middle to put runners at the corners for Thomas, who's sac fly to center scored Freimuth from third. McKenzie Long doubled down the left-field line to score Foerster to make it a 4-1 ballgame, chasing Ashley Kozial from the circle in favor of Caitlyn Minney. Minney got Sanders to pop out to end the inning, but not before MSU had padded it's lead.
In the top of the fifth, the Penguins tried to chip away at the lead, as Sarah Dowd smacked a leadoff single, advanced to third on a passed ball, and then scored on a two-out double to left center by Taylor. However, Zalewski struck out the side around those two hits, getting the Spartans out of the inning with little damage.
In the bottom of the frame, the Spartans had runners on the corners with one out, after McBride led off with a single through the left side and Thomas singled to center. YSU made another pitching change, bringing in Kayla Haslett, and the Spartans greeted her with back-to-back bunt singles by Long and Sanders that scored McBride and Thomas for a 6-2 Spartan advantage with just one out and two on. Reiser re-entered and reached on an error, scoring Long for the 7-2 MSU lead, but the Penguins then turned a double play to get out of the inning and limit MSU's offense to just three runs.
Kaff came in to throw the sixth for the Spartans, and Katie Smallcomb and Maria Lacatena greeted her with back-to-back singles in an effort to start a rally. Kaff got Kayla Haslett to go down swinging and Macey to fly out to left, but back-to-back walks to Dowd and Mikovich brought home a run to make it a 7-3 game. Zalewski re-entered at that point, coaxing Castiglione into a groundout to short, leaving the bases loaded and preserving a four-run Spartan lead.
MSU stranded a pair of runners in the sixth, bringing Zalewski back out to the circle in an effort to close out the victory. She went down 0-3 in the count to Taylor before coming back to get her to go down swinging. Moffatt followed with an infield single, and she moved to second when Smallcomb grounded out to second, Zalewski's eighth ground-ball out of the day. Lacatena struck out swinging to end the game, improving Michigan State to 13-10 on the season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Zalewski, Kristina (3-3)
L: Kozial (3-3)
Batting:
2B: Taylor 1
HR: Mikovich 1
RBI: Mikovich 2 ; Taylor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dowd 1 ; Mikovich 1 ; Smallcomb 1
SB: Dowd 1 ; Castiglione 1
Batting:
2B: Long, McKenzie 1 ; Stoffer, Ellie 1
RBI: Thomas, Shanin 1 ; Long, McKenzie 2 ; Sanders, Stephanie 1 ; Reiser, Jacquie 1 ; Stoffer, Ellie 2
SH: McBride, Alyssa 1 ; Long, McKenzie 1 ; Stoffer, Ellie 1
SF: Thomas, Shanin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Freimuth, McKinzie 1 ; McBride, Alyssa 1 ; Foerster, Lea 1 ; Thomas, Shanin 2 ; Long, McKenzie 1 ; Sanders, Stephanie 1
SB: Foerster, Lea 1 ; Thomas, Shanin 1 ; Reiser, Jacquie 1
CS: McBride, Alyssa 1
