APSU Sports: Austin Peay Softball
Clarksville, TN – Two first-inning home runs, including a grand slam by Kayla Davidson, powered Austin Peay’s softball team to a 5-3 Ohio Valley Conference victory against Jacksonville State, Sunday, at Cheryl Holt Field.
It didn’t take long for the Lady Govs to get on the scoreboard with sophomore Lauren de Castro leading off the bottom of the first inning with her team-leading ninth home run of the season off a 3-2 pitch.
Freshman Paige Neely — who finished the day with three hits — then doubled and moved to third on a single to right field by senior Amy Mills.
Jacksonville State (23-25, 17-10 OVC) starter Tiffany Harbin, who only lasted a third of an inning, then hit junior Morgan Brewer to load the bases.
The Gamecocks were able to get senior Catie Cozart to ground into a fielder’s choice for the first out of the inning, with Neely being forced out at the plate.
That brought up Davidson — a sophomore — who fouled off a 3-1 and 3-2 pitch, before hammering the seventh pitch of the at bat over the left field fence for a home run and a 5-0 lead.
Harbin would only last one more batter after the home run as she walked red-shirt junior Jessica Ryan and was lifted for relief pitcher Sam Snow.
Senior Ashley Bolda greeted her with an infield single, but the Gamecocks got out of the inning when the Lady Govs were called for interference at first base leading to the final two outs being called on the play.
Jacksonville State scored its first run on an RBI single by Krystal Ruth, with a sixth-inning run coming in off a double by Sara Boarders, scoring an unearned run to make it 5-2.
Boarders, Ruth and Kristin Graham had two hits each to lead the Gamecocks.
The final inning got a little dicey for Brewer and the Lady Govs, as Shelby Holley hit her season’s 17th home run to lead off the seventh, to cut the deficit to 5-3. That was followed by a walk to Ruth and a single by Graham sandwiched around two outs to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate for JSU.
But Brewer got Kelci Johnson to fly out to Cozart, who made a spectacular diving catch in short left center field to seal the win.
Brewer got the complete-game victory – her third of the week — giving up eight hits and four walks, while striking out five.
Next Game
Austin Peay’s Softball team concludes the OVC regular season with a three game series at Charleston, IL next weekend. The Lady Govs face the Eastern Illinois Panthers in a Saturday, May 5th double header at Williams Field starting at 1:00pm. The final game of the regular season will be played Sunday, May 6th at 1:00pm.
Box Score
Jacksonville State at Austin Peay
April 29th, 2012 at Clarksville, TN (Cheryl Holt Field)
Jacksonville State 3 (23-25,17-10 OVC)
| Player | ab | r | h | rbi |
| Sara Borders rf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Kaycee Crow c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shelby Holley 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Krystal Ruth lf | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Hayden Crawford cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Abbey Stepp dp | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Katie Matchen ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kristin Graham ss | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Kelci Johnston 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Savannah Sloan 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Tiffany Harbin p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Snow p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 30 | 3 | 8 | 3 |
Austin Peay 5 (19-28,10-17 OVC)
| Player | ab | r | h | rbi |
| de CASTRO, Lauren 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NEELY, Paige ss | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MILLS, Amy c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| BREWER, Morgan p | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| COZART, Catie cf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DAVIDSON, Kayla 3b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| BURROUGHS, Laurel ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| RYAN, Jessica lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BOLDA, Ashley rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| RASMUSSEN, Sarah ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| BRADLEY, Lauren 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 24 | 5 | 9 | 5 |
Score by Innings R H E ----------------------------------------- Jacksonville State.. 000 011 1 - 3 8 1 Austin Peay......... 500 000 X - 5 9 1 ----------------------------------------- |
| E – GRAHAM, K.(16); MILLS A(10). LOB – JSU 11; Austin Peay 6. 2B – BORDERS, S. 2(13); NEELY(9). HR – HOLLEY, S.(17); de CASTRO(9); DAVIDSON(5). HBP – CROW, K.; deCASTRO; BREWER. SH – RYAN(2). SB – RYAN(2). CS – BURROUGHS(1). |
| Jacksonville State | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | wp | bk | hbp | ibb | ab | bf | fo | go | np |
| Tiffany Harbin L,13-8 | 0.1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 38 |
| Sam Snow | 5.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 22 | 3 | 8 | 67 |
| Austin Peay | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | wp | bk | hbp | ibb | ab | bf | fo | go | np |
| BREWER, Morgan W,10-13 | 7.0 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 35 | 7 | 9 | 104 |
| HBP – by HARBIN, T. (BREWER); by BREWER (CROW, K.); by SNOW, S. (de CASTRO). Pitches/strikes: HARBIN, T. 38/21; SNOW, S. 67/42; BREWER 104/63.Strikeouts – CROW, K. 2; RUTH, K.; JOHNSTON, K. 2; MILLS A; BREWER; RYAN. Walks – HOLLEY, S.; RUTH, K.; MATCHEN, K.; GRAHAM, K.; DAVIDSON; RYAN. Umpires – HP: Kerry Henson 1B: Chris Long 3B: Dave LeMarbre Start: 1:03pm Time: 1:48 Attendance: 150 Weather: Partly cloudy, 81, Wind: sw7 |
