Last weekend, The University of Memphis softball team traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Nike Invitational and defeated the hosting No. 16/17 Stanford in their second win over a ranked opponent this season. Prior to the season, the Tigers had never beaten a ranked team. Now, they're off to their best start in school history. The Tigers took 3 of 4 in the invitational and defeated Colorado State 4-3 in comeback fashion in the final game of the tournament.
"It was a rough first six innings," senior infielder Maddie McKinley said. "But we just kept with it, and (plugged) away until we were able to get people around and to score and we just did our job."
Colorado State (3-11) took a 2-0 lead on two solo home runs by catcher Emily Pohl in the third and fifth innings. CSU freshman pitcher Alexa Cash (0-4) held the Tigers at bay through six innings until the Tigers rallied in the seventh, using four straight hits to ignite a two-run sequence that sent the game to extra innings. The Tigers added two more runs in the top of the eighth to seal the victory.
"It was a really frustrating game at first," head coach Windy Thees said. "We gave up a couple of solo homeruns in the beginning, and with this team, they like to wait to the last minute to respond to pressure when it's on them. As a coach I don't like that, and maybe we can get them to respond a little earlier in the game — I know our pitchers would like that also."
Sophomore ace Carly Hummer (8-0) pitched the final two innings in relief and struck out the side in the eighth to pick up her eighth straight victory. Memphis improves to 12-3 on the season and finished the tournament 3-1. The Tigers have won their last 10 of 11.
"We had a good first quarter of the season, but obviously I will think about the one that got away," Thees said. "If you break the season down like that, our season has been pretty successful. But starting this weekend we will be back at 0-0, and we have to move on from there to see where we're at for the next 15 games."
Memphis will next play in the Bulldog Classic hosted by Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., on March 4-6. The Tigers will face the Bulldogs twice as well as No. 21/24 Texas A&M and Mississippi Valley State.
No comments:
Post a Comment