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APSU Lady Govs Softball beats Miami (Ohio) Red Hawks in extra innings, 4-3

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Women’s Softball

Austin Peay State University Lady GovsLouisville, KY – Freshman Mel Pavel came through with a clutch hit in the top of the eighth inning — Friday morning at the University of Louisville Red and Black Classic — then applied the game-ending tag at the plate on the backend of a double play to end the game, as the Lady Govs defeated the Miami (Ohio) Red Hawks, 4-3, in eight innings.

APSU Women's Softball. (Courtesy: Brittney Sparn/APSU Sports Information)
APSU Women’s Softball. (Courtesy: Brittney Sparn/APSU Sports Information)

The Lady Govs (6-3) opened the eighth with sophomore Laurel Burroughs being placed at second base – under the international tie-breaker rule, where the last batter from the previous inning is placed on second base to start the inning.

Junior Lauren de Castro then moved Burroughs to third with a sacrifice bunt, but Burroughs was caught in a rundown on a ground ball by junior Kayla Davidson for the second out of the inning.

Kayla Davidson

But Davidson was heads up on the play and moved into scoring position at second base on the play, which turned out to be one of the biggest plays of the game.

That brought up Pavel, who laced a single into left center field to bring in Davidson with the go ahead run to make it 4-3.

Miami (Ohio) would threaten to tie – if not win the game – in the bottom of the inning by getting the tying run to third base and the winning run to second, with no one out.

But de Castro (4-1) – who pitched out of jams in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, got a groundout to Davidson for the first out and then induced a fly ball into short center field.

Jessica RyanRed-shirt senior Jessica Ryan came in for the catch and fired a strike to home plate, where Pavel tagged out Red Hawks (2-9) runner Megan Mattera to seal the victory.

With the win, Austin Peay extends its win streak to five games.

Miami (Ohio) scored twice in the bottom of the second inning – aided by two Austin Peay errors — to jump out to a lead.

Allie Larrabee opened the inning with a single and after de Castro got the next two hitters on strikes, moved to third on a single by Kylie McChesney.

Larrabee would score on a throwing error by Pavel, on a stolen base by McChesney.

That would be followed by a throwing error by freshman third baseman Niya Sparks to allow McChesney to score.

Austin Peay would cut into the Red Hawks margin with a single run in the top of the fourth inning, with de Castro ripping a double down the right field line, which was followed by a run-scoring single by Davidson.

The double by de Castro was the only extra-base hit in the game by either team.

Shelby NortonThe Lady Govs would take its first lead of the game in the top of the fifth, scoring twice on a throwing error by Miami (Ohio) second baseman Kristy Arbour, after red-shirt senior Shelby Norton, freshman Marissa Lake and Ryan all singled to load the bases.

The Red Hawks would tie the game for the final time in the bottom of the inning on a single by Remy Edwards, driving in Taylor Shuey – who had opened the inning with a single and moved into scoring position by stealing second.

Austin Peay will continue play in the Classic on Saturday, as they play Illinois State, at 11:00am, followed by an afternoon contest against the host school Louisville, at 4:00pm.

The classic concludes on Sunday.

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