Michigan State University
16-21
Toledo
13-22
MSU Softball Topped By Toledo, 5-3, Wednesday
4/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
EAST LANSING, Mich. - A career-high seven strikeouts by freshman southpaw Bridgette Rainey was not enough as Michigan State softball was topped by Toledo, 5-3, Wednesday in a non-conference contest at a chilly Secchia Stadium. Wednesday's game was the first of MSU's season-long nine-game homestand.
MSU falls to 16-21 overall, while Toledo improves to 13-22 with the win.
Rainey fired her second complete game in a row and her third of the season, spraying five hits, walking four and yielding only one earned run. She now has 11 K's in her last two outings, after a four-strikeout effort Sunday at Rutgers.
Senior McKinzie Freimuth and junior Destinee Luna led the Spartans at the plate with two hits apiece. Sophomore Sarah Gutknecht drove in two of MSU's three runs with a two-run double in the seventh for not only the home team's lone extra base hit of the afternoon, but the only one of the contest.
Toledo's Emily Anderson matched Rainey by going the distance in the circle, allowing eight MSU hits, striking out four and walking five in giving up three earned runs. The Rockets struck first in the top of the second inning. With one on and one out, Kaitlyn Bergman singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Both runners advanced a base on a passed ball and Ashley Rausch put Toledo ahead, 1-0, with a fielder's choice that scored Sammy Emery.
Michigan State threatened in each of the first three innings, including getting runners on second and third with only one out in the home half of the second. Sophomore Kassidy Kujawa led off with a walk, followed by a Luna single. Senior Ellie Stoffer moved them up a base with a sac bunt preceding a walk by senior Alyssa McBride to load the bases full of Spartans. The rally was thwarted by a double play by Toledo first baseman Samantha Showalter, snaring a line drive off the bat of MSU freshman Lea Foerster and tagging first to double-up McBride and end the inning.
In the top of the fifth frame, Toledo added two more runs to take a 3-0 lead. Both runs scored in the inning were unearned. With two outs, Showalter drove in two with a hard-hit single up the middle.
The visitor's tacked on two more runs in the sixth with a carbon-copy duplicate of the fifth frame, as again with two outs, the Rockets strung together a hit by Ashley Rausch and a walk by Jessica Lemieux. The runners advanced to second and third on a passed ball, and scored on a single up the middle by Nicole Toven for a 5-0 Toledo advantage.
Michigan State did not go quietly in the bottom of the seventh inning. Forester reached on a one-out walk. Freimuth followed with a single down the leftfield line to put runners on first and second. Gutknecht doubled to center, scoring two and cutting the Toledo lead to 5-2. Freshman McKenzie Long battle Anderson, including a long drive to right that was narrowly foul, eventually drawing a walk, then Kujawa singled to center to score Gutknecht and narrow the gap to pull MSU within 5-3. However, Anderson induced Luna, who represented the tying run, to ground out and end the game.
The Spartans are back at Secchia Stadium this weekend to continue their season-long nine-game homestand, when MSU resumes Big Ten Conference play by hosting Ohio State in a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is at 4 p.m. and the Saturday and Sunday games are both 1 p.m. starts.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: ANDERSON (6-9)
L: Rainey, Bridgette (1-5)
Batting:
RBI: TOVEN 2 ; SHOWALTER 2 ; RAUSCH 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LEMIEUX 1 ; TOVEN 1 ; RICE 1 ; BERGMAN 1 ; RAUSCH 1
SB: SCOTT 1
Batting:
2B: Gutknecht, Sarah 1
RBI: Gutknecht, Sarah 2 ; Kujawa, Kassidy 1
SH: Stoffer, Ellie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Foerster, Lea 1 ; Freimuth, McKinzie 1 ; Gutknecht, Sarah 1
HBP: Luna, Destinee 1
