APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University softball’s Morgan Rackel and Kelly Mardones baffled SIU Edwardsville hitters in both ends of an Ohio Valley Conference double header, Saturday at Cheryl Holt Field at Joe and Cathi Maynard Softball Stadium, as the Govs swept the Cougars in 6-1 and 3-0 finals.
The Govs (31-15, 12-4 OVC) duo held SIUE (20-17, 10-6 OVC) to just five total hits and one earned run in the two games, with Rackel (17-6) allowing three hits and one run – while striking out nine – and Mardones (10-4) collecting her third shutout of the year in giving up just two hits, with one strikeout.
The Govs wrap-up their home schedule on Sunday with an OVC doubleheader versus Eastern Illinois, starting at 1:00pm, which will also be Senior Day, as the Govs honor their three seniors – Alexis Hill, Erica Inagaki and Savanna Oliver – in a ceremony following the contests.
Follow the Govs softball team on Austin Peay’s official athletics website Let’sGoPeay.com or on Twitter @AustinPeaySB for more information or updates.
Game 1
Austin Peay 6, SIUE 1
The Govs would break things open in the second inning, exploded for four runs, with two coming in on a Kacy Acree double, while the other two scored on Bailey Shorter’s fourth home run of the year.
SIUE would score its lone run of the day in the top of the third, to cut the Govs lead to 4-1, but that would be as close as they would get, with Austin Peay adding single runs in the fourth and sixth innings on a RBI double and triple — both coming from Rackel.
Game 2
Austin Peay 3, SIUE 0
Austin Peay got on top early by scoring two runs on three hits, while also taking advantage of an SIUE error.
Carly Mattson would score Bailey from third base on a two-out infield single, with Danielle Liermann also scoring all the way around from second base when the Cougars shortstop’s throw to first base to try to get Mattson was wide and got away from the SIUE first baseman.
Liermann would be the lone Gov to record two hits in the contest.
The Govs would close the day’s scoring in the third inning on an RBI single by Brooke Pfefferle, driving in Rackel, who had reached on a single.
Inside the Box Score
The sweep by Austin Peay over the Cougars was the first in their series history.
The Game 1 win was APSU’s 30th of the year, only the second time in the program’s history they have reached the 30-win mark in a season.
Austin Peay hitters drew 11 walks in the two games, while Govs pitching didn’t walk a single Cougars hitter.
The Game 2 shutout was the Govs 12th of the season, the second most by a Govs pitching staff in the program’s history.
Kacy Acree has now reached base in 22 straight games.
Morgan Rackel’s consecutive-game hit streak is now at 10 games.
Coaching Quotables with Head Coach Rodney DeLong
On outstanding pitching effort
“Morgan (Rackel) and Kelly (Mardones) were great today, especially Kelly, who brought her ‘A’ stuff today. Those are the kind of performances you need from your pitchers when your playing big teams and big games like that. From pitch one, they really controlled the day.”
On pitching taking pressure off offense
“Our pitching today really took a lot of pressure off our offense and allow them to relax a little bit and perform better. We adjusted well to their riseball and drew some walks and had some timely hits to go with those walks.”
On carrying momentum into final home games and Senior Day
“Today was a big day and hopefully we’ll carry that into tomorrow versus Eastern Illinois. I don’t think we’ll need any motivation, we know where we sit in the conference (standings) and we want to win this thing.
“We also want to win for the seniors who have been instrumental with the change this year and we would love to play really well for them.”
