Austin Peay State University Softball drops two games Saturday to SIU Edwardsville Cougars

APSU Sports Information

Edwardsville, IL – Austin Peay State University’s softball team suffered two six-inning Ohio Valley Conference losses, Saturday at Cougar Field, falling to Southern Illinois Edwardsville by 10-2 and 8-0 finals.

The Cougars (8-14, 2-0 OVC), played their first home contests of the season, recorded 13 hits in each of the two games – scoring their two highest single-game run totals of the season.

In Game 1, the contest looked like it would be a pitcher’s duel early on, with both teams failing to push across any runs for the first three-and-a-half innings of play.

But the Cougars would break the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fourth inning, pushing across two runs, with Kayla Riggs and Chelsea Yankolovich picking up RBIs.

Austin Peay would tie the game in the top of the fifth inning, taking advantage of two Cougar errors, scoring two unearned runs – including an RBI sacrifice fly by senior Kayla Davidson.

But that would be as close as the Lady Govs would get, as the Cougars scored eight runs over the next two innings to end the game, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, via the eight-run rule.

Sophomore Mel Pavel and freshman Rikki Arkansas had the two APSU hits in Game 1, while Kayla Riggs led SIUE with a 4-for-4 performance.

Lauren de Castro (6-5) took the loss, while Erin Greenwalt (4-4) picked up the complete-game win – striking out six.

Game 2 of the doubleheader started out very much like the opener, as the two teams went into the bottom of the third inning in a scoreless tie.

But Jill Rackers, a senior, hit a home run to open the bottom of the third to give SIUE a 1-0 advantage.

Rackers would make it 2-0 with an RBI single in the next inning and then the Cougars would blow the game open with three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings for the 8-0 final.

Davidson and junior Laurel Burroughs would record the two Austin Peay hits in the nightcap, while Rackers and Alex McDavid would lead SIUE with 2-for-3 efforts.

Haley Chambers (4-10) picked up the win for SIUE, striking out 11 in the shutout, while freshman Brianna Bartuccio (2-7) took the loss for APSU.

The three-game series is scheduled to conclude today with a single game beginning at 1:00pm.

Box Score – Game 1

Score by Innings                R  H  E
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Austin Peay......... 000 020 -  2  2  0
SIU Edwardsville.... 000 235 - 10 13  3
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Box Score – Game 2

Score by Innings                R  H  E
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Austin Peay......... 000 000 -  0  2  2
SIU Edwardsville.... 001 133 -  8 13  0
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