APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Senior Danielle Liermann drove in three of the Austin Peay State University (APSU) softball teams six runs, Tuesday afternoon at Cheryl Holt Filed at Cathi Maynard Park, as the Govs and Racers split a pair of Ohio Valley Conference/Heritage Bank Battle of the Border games, by identical 4-2 finals.
Liermann would finish the day going 3-for-6 at the plate, including a double and a home run in driving in her three runs.
Game 1
Austin Peay 4, Murray State 2
The Govs (22-16, 7-3 OVC) took advantage of two Murray State errors to score a pair of unearned runs in the second inning, including one coming in on an RBI single by Natalie Schilling, for a 2-0 lead.
Murray State (18-19, 8-2 OVC) responded with a run in the top of the third to cut the Govs lead in half, 2-1, but Liermann would get the run back in the bottom of the inning on her OVC-leading 14th home run of the season.
Liermann would then extend the Austin Peay lead out to 4-1 with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth.
Murray would score its final run of the game in the top of fifth, but would get no closer, as Morgan Rackel (16-5) closed out the game by retiring nine of the final 10 batters she faced to seal away the 4-2 victory for Austin Peay.
Rackel would finish the game giving up two runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out seven.
Game 2
Murray State 4, Austin Peay 2
Austin Peay jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by Liermann, but Murray State would score the next three runs, with two coming in the top of the third inning and the other run coming in the top of fifth.
Austin Peay would get to within one run, 3-2, on an RBI single by Rackel in the bottom of the fifth inning and then threaten to tie of take the lead in the bottom of the sixth — getting the first two hitters on base with no outs — but Murray State would get the final six APSU hitters in order to end the game, while adding an insurance run in the top of the seventh for the 4-2 final.
Inside the Boxscore
The win by Morgan Rackel in Game 1 was the 38th of her career, breaking a tie with Morgan Brewer (2010-13) for the fourth-most wins in a career in program history.
With her first strikeout in Game 1, Morgan Rackel reached 350 strikeouts in her career and now currently sits at 356.
Carly Mattson had her career-long 10-game hit streak snapped in Game 2.
Austin Peay is 6-for-22 in pinch-hitting attempts this season.
Morgan Rackel has reached base in 15 straight games, tying for the sixth longest such streak by a Govs player since the 2000 season.
