Story by Zach Scott, Staff writer
Despite their early lead, the Racers struggles continued as they lost to Memphis 5-4 Wednesday night.
The Racers started the scoring early, led by a pair of RBI doubles by junior infielder Lillie Goetz and sophomore infielder Lexi Jones.
Memphis didn’t take long to answer though, as the Tigers put up two runs in the bottom of the second inning to tie it up at two apiece.
The score stayed knotted at two until junior infielder Brenna Finck hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth, scoring senior outfielder Maddy Feeny. Later in the inning Goetz hit a sacrifice fly, bringing home Finck to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Racers.
The Murray State lead did not last long, as the Tigers put up three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give them the 5-4 lead. The Racers couldn’t answer back in the top of the seventh inning, sealing their eighth-straight loss.
Senior pitcher Haven Campbell got the start inside the circle for the Racers, lasting nearly four innings while giving up two runs, both of them earned. Campbell also struck out and walked three batters in her short appearance.
Junior pitcher Grace Vaughn came in and pitched nearly three innings of relief. Vaughn gave up three earned runs, striking out two batters while only walking one.
Head Coach Kara Amundson was pleased with how her pitchers played Wednesday.
“Haven [Campbell] started the game off pretty well for us attacking the zone,” Amundson said. “We got out of some situations where had runners on a few times which was good to see. Grace came in the middle of the game and did what we needed her to do. The runs Memphis scored in the sixth inning were all unearned, so that part is a little hard to chew on.”
Goetz led the way for the Racers going 1-for-2 with two RBIs. Finck finished the game going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Despite the loss, Amundson said she felt her team fought as hard as they could against the Tigers.
“I told the team after the game I felt like this was the first time we sincerely competed from the first inning to the last in quite a while,” Amundson said. “We scored first, had a lot of quality at bats and executed well in general offensively.”
The Racers continue their road trip with a pair of games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Friday, April 20, when they take on the Belmont Bruins in Nashville, Tennessee.