APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s softball team scored six total runs in the fourth and five innings of Game 2, Saturday at Cheryl Holt Field, to pull away from Murray State to pick up a 8-2 Ohio Valley Conference victory, after dropping the opening game, 6-0.
It would remain that way until the bottom of the fourth, when the Govs four times to take a 6-2 lead.
Mattson would open the inning with an infield single and move to second when Vinchenza DiBenedetto drew a walk.
A sacrifice from Erica Inagaki moved the pair over, followed by a single from Courtney Brower to break the deadlock and give APSU a 3-2 lead.
The Govs would add to their lead with Chandler Groves doubling in DiBenedetto, followed by Acree picking up an RBI on an infield out and Danielle Liermann driving in a run with a sacrifice fly.
That would be all the runs that Austin Peay starter Autumn Hanners (4-15) would need, as she only allowed two hits to the Racers (22-29, 11-14 OVC) over the final three innings.
Overall, Hanners scattered five hits in the complete-game win, while walking one and striking out two.
Austin Peay would add two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double from Mattson and an infield out by Inagaki, to make it 8-2.
Mattson would lead the Govs with three hits, while Groves picked up two. Leah Kesel led Murray State with two hits.
In Game 1, Murray State got out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning and let their starting pitcher Mason Robinson (17-14) take it from there, as she only allow one hit to the Govs – a fifth-inning double to Mattson – in her six innings of work, while also walking one and striking out three.
Murray State would add to its lead with two runs in the third and fourth innings, with Cayla Levins driving in two with a single in the fourth and Shelby Miller plating a pair with a two-run double in the fourth.
Murray would tack on a final run in the top of the seventh, with Jessica Twaddle stealing home.
The two teams will conclude the three-game series, as well as the 2016 regular season Sunday with a single game, scheduled to start at noon.
Sunday’s game will also be Senior Day for the five Governor seniors (Brower, DiBenedetto, Natalie Ayala, Niya Sparks and Mel Pavel) with a ceremony honoring their careers before the game.
