Softball wins at home

While most of the Racers were enjoying their Spring Break on beache the Murray State softball team had their first home opener where they hosted 13th ranked Kentucky, traveled to face Belmont, and back home to play Tennessee State.

The Racers fell 5-2 in the first game and 1-0 in the second.

Head Coach Kara Amundson said that they played really well against Kentucky. She said they attacked the zone well and did what they needed to do offensively.

“We outhit Kentucky in game two. They had to bring in their number one pitcher and were not planning on throwing their number one in either game,” Amundson said.

Sophomore catcher Jocelynn Rodgers put the Racers on the board in the sixth with a double.

Sophomore pitcher Mason Robinson had a no-hitter going through the fifth inning during the game but it was broken up in the sixth inning.

Amundson said that they had to bring out their number one pitcher because after seeing the Racers they thought twice about underestimating Murray State softball.

Murray State also traveled to Nashville, Tenn. to play Belmont over the break. The team played two games. They won the first 9-0 in only five innings and they fell 7-3 in the second game.

Amundson said she had mixed feelings about the Belmont series but the team did well. The Racers are ranked No. 1 in the country for double plays over all Division I schools.

“We talk about maintaining our team dynamic and our identity which is to attack the zone early and let our defense go to work,” Amundson said.

Amundson said she thinks the team lost intensity when it came to game two in the Belmont series. The Racers were expected to win so they approached the game underestimating the competition and fell in game two.

The Racers turned around and played Tennessee State at Racer Field the next day. Racers topped Tennessee State 10-1 and 9-1, scoring 19 runs total.

Amundson said the team took a different approach to Tennessee than they did with Belmont and that worked out for the best. Offensively, she said she was happy with the team’s performance.

“We have all kinds of talents on this team,” Amundson said. “One of the most talented teams I’ve ever coached, we have to have that identity all the time and we did that a lot better this time then we did with Belmont.”

Tuesday night the team took to the field again and defeated Southern Illinois University 6-4.

Amundson said the team had a few errors but they converted on the things SIU was giving them and ended up turning them into runs.

“Mason came out and threw a much better game. She had been struggling a little bit and had lost three straight and came out and was a focused pitcher yesterday and made good adjustment,” Amundson said.

The Racers did a good job moving runners Amundson said. Moving forward into this weekend the Racers will play Eastern Illinois in a three-game set starting on Saturday.

“I encourage our kids to realize that they can play with anybody if were doing the things that were talking about every day like the offensive adjustments and doing what we need to do defensively,” Amundson said.

Story by Da’Sha Tuck, Staff writer

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