April 4, 2006

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - Unable to get its offense on track, the Miami University softball team (14-22; 1-3 MAC) fell, 8-0, to former Mid-American Conference rival Marshall Tuesday at Dot Hicks Field. In the team's first non-conference meeting since 1996, Marshall clubbed a pair of home runs and limited Miami to one hit over the final four innings in its run-rule win.

Miami could not push a run across in the top of the first despite three consecutive hits from freshman Ashley Gartland (Tempe, Ariz.), freshman Alexis Javier (Whittier, Calif.) and sophomore Halle Popson (Solon, Ohio), and in the bottom half of the inning, Marshall jumped out to a 2-0 lead. After a one-out single by Ashley Mitchell, 2005 NFCA Third-Team All-American Rachel Folden stroked a two-run home run to rightfield, putting Miami in an early two-run hole.

Marshall tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the second, courtesy of a three-run home run from Courtney Kacenga. After the first batter of the inning was retired, back-to-back walks and Kacenga's round tripper to left centerfield put Marshall in front, 5-0. The Thundering Herd then loaded the bases with two outs, but the RedHawks escaped further damage by inducing a flyout to end the inning and strand all three runners.

Miami managed five hits, all singles, the first two times through the batting order, but it could not plate a run off Marshall starting pitcher Abigail Harter. After putting two runners in scoring position in the first inning, Miami did not put a runner in scoring position over the final five frames.

Marshall added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth as it extended its lead to 7-0. A RBI sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double accounted for the Thundering Herd's fifth-inning runs, but a walk and a hit batter also aided the scoring rally.

A one-out sacrifice fly by Marshall in the bottom the sixth pushed across its eighth run and ended the game via the eight-run rule.

Popson was the only Miami batter with a multi-hit game as she finished 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. Popson also raised her team-leading batting average to .442 (38-for-86) and moved into the team lead with 38 hits.

Freshman Kelly Cabana (4-11) was tagged with the loss after allowing eight earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. She walked seven and struck out four.

Miami resumes conference play this weekend when it travels to Western Michigan (April 7) and Northern Illinois (April 8-9).

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