Morehead, KY – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) softball team split the final two games of its three-game Ohio Valley Conference series versus Morehead State, Sunday at University Field, with the Governors taking Game 1 in a 7-4 final, before dropping the nightcap, 9-1.
Austin Peay 7, Morehead State 4
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Austin Peay | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Morehead State | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
W: BENEFIEL, Jordan (7-5) L: SEXTON, Bree (0-2)
Austin Peay would take advantage of a pair of Eagle (2-20, 1-5 OVC) errors to extend its lead in the third inning.
Shorter would open the inning with a walk and be safe at second on a throwing error off a ground ball by Megan Hodum.
Lexi Osowski would follow with a walk to load the bases, with Pfefferle driving in Shorter with a ground out.
After a walk to Kylie Campbell, loaded the bases for the second time in the inning, an error by the first baseman on a ground ball from Kendyl Weinzapfel allowed Hodum and Osowski to score, making it 5-0.
That would be more than enough for starter Jordan Benefiel (7-5), who picked up a complete-game victory, giving up four runs on seven hits, while walked two and striking out a career-high 10.
Morehead State would cut into the Govs lead, scoring a single run in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth, to make it 5-3, but Osowski would hit her second home run of the weekend for the Govs, in the sixth, to extent the APSU lead back out to four, 7-3.
The Eagles would add a final run in the bottom of the inning for the 7-4 final.
Morehead State 9, Austin Peay 1
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
| Austin Peay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Morehead State | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 0 |
W: SPICER, Lennon (2-9) L: MIENER, Samantha (5-8)
The Govs would be playing catchup for most of the game, with Morehead State jumping out to a 4-0 lead after two innings.
Austin Peay State University would cut the deficit to three in the top of the fourth, 4-1, with Hodum reaching on a single and then scoring all the way around from first on a double off he left field fence by Osowski.
But that would be as close as the Govs would get the rest of the way, with the Eagles scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning and three more in the fifth for the 9-1 final.
Inside the Boxscore
Jordan Benefiel recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in Game 1 of the doubleheader.
Bailey Shorter and Lexi Osowski both scored the 100th run of their careers, becoming the 11th and 12th Governors all-time to reach that milestone.
With her Game 1 home run, Osowski moved alone into eighth-place all-time for career home runs, with 21.
Kylie Campbell set a career single-game best with three walks in Game 1
Shorter tied a career single game-high with three walks in Game 1.
Next Up For APSU Softball
The Austin Peay State University softball team is off until Tuesday at 2:00pm, when it travels to Murray State for the first of two mid-week OVC doubleheaders between the Govs and Racers.
For news and updates on everything Governors softball, follow along on Twitter (@GovsSB) or check back at LetsGoPeay.com.
