APSU Sports: Austin Peay Softball
Huntsville, AL – Austin Peay’s softball team got two complete-game pitching performances, backed by a couple of big innings on offense, as it swept Alabama A&M in a non-conference doubleheader by scores of 6-3 and 6-0.
In Game 1, the score was tied 1-1 heading into the top of the fourth inning, when sophomore Paige Neely drew a leadoff walk on four straight pitches.
Junior Morgan Brewer would lay down a sacrifice bunt, but Alabama A&M (11-19) third baseman Jasmine Riley threw the ball away allowing Neely to move all the way around to third base and Brewer to second, with no outs.
After freshman Sarah Rasmussen walked to load the bases, senior Amy Mills would drive in the go-head run with a single up the middle to make it 2-1.
Sophomore Kayla Davidson followed by driving in two more runs, with a single to center, making it 4-1.
Davidson would lead the Lady Govs with two hits.
The final two runs of the inning came off the Lady Bulldogs second error of the inning, when another throwing error by Riley allowed two move runs to score, giving Austin Peay a 6-1 advantage.
Those runs would be all that sophomore pitcher Taylor Mills would need, as she held the Lady Bulldogs over the final four innings to three hits and two runs for the 6-3 victory.
Mills (2-5) also set a career high with nine strikeouts in her first complete game of the season.
Austin Peay opened up the game by scoring on the first pitch, as sophomore Lauren de Castro smacked a slicing liner down the right field line that rolled away from the Lady Bulldogs fielder, with de Castro racing around the bases and easily beating the throw home.
In Game 2, the Lady Govs broke the game open with a four-run sixth inning, but it was the pitching of de Castro (5-5) with was the story, as she only allowed two base runners – both on singles – in earning her second shutout of the season.
She would also finish the game with a career-high seven strikeouts.
Despite de Castro’s pitching, Austin Peay only held a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the sixth inning, but Davidson got things going with a double – and after moving to third on a ground out, scored on a single by senior Catie Cozart.
Cozart would then steal second and score on a de Castro double, to make it 4-0.
Freshman Laurel Burroughs, then singled in de Castro, while the Austin Peay’s final run scored on an Alabama A&M error.
The Lady Govs had taken an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, with the first run coming in off a sacrifice fly by red-shirt junior Jessica Ryan, while the other run came in on an error by Alabama A&M.
Leading the way for the Lady Govs was de Castro, who finished the second game with three hits, while Burroughs and Cozart recorded two hits each.
Overall, de Castro’s four hits on Wednesday improves her 50 total for the season, making her only the 10th player in the program’s history – and the first since Jenny Kelly in 2003 to reach that milestone.
