March 22, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In its longest game since 2005, the Samford softball team used a game-winning single from sophomore Amanda Barrs to defeat the Morehead State Eagles 3-2 in the 11th inning Saturday at Bulldog Field. Katie England scored the Bulldogs' winning run.

"I'm extremely proud of this team and how they never gave up and fought until the end," said Samford head coach Beanie Ketcham. "I think that late in the game we played with a lot of intensity and we did not want to lose. This was a huge win for us and hopefully we can use it to build some momentum here in conference play."

With Saturday's win, Samford (11-15, 3-3 Ohio Valley Conference) snapped a two-game losing streak and avoided the series sweep against Morehead State (16-4, 2-2 OVC).

On Friday, the Eagles opened the conference series with a pair of one-run victories at Bulldog Field 2-1 and 4-3. All three games of the weekend series were decided by one run. So far this season, Samford owns a 5-6 record in one-run games.

"We always tend to play really close games and it seems that we only like to score runs when we need to," Ketcham said. "That's what we did today and it worked out for us, but we really need to start scoring more often and taking some pressure off our pitchers and defense."

In Samford's longest game since a 6-5 loss to Southeast Missouri in the 2005 OVC Tournament, the Bulldogs opened the bottom of the 11th inning with England on second base due to the international tiebreaker rule.

With nobody out in the frame, England advanced to third on a wild pitch from Morehead State's Alex Gjevre (7-2) and later scored on a single to left field from Barrs. Barrs, who was the Bulldogs' starting pitcher Saturday, rifled a 1-2 pitch just inches over the outstretched arms of shortstop Allie Honkofsky.

Barrs paced Samford's offensive attack with a 2-for-4 performance in the game, while senior Jeslyn Metcalf went 2-for-5 and Kylie Harmon finished 1-for-3 with a run scored. Emily Deaux, England and Whitney Terry also tallied base hits for the Bulldogs in the victory.

Samford's Margaret Carter (3-3) came on in relief for Barrs in the third inning and subsequently shut down the Eagles' offense.

The Bulldogs' highly-touted freshman from Welaka, Fla., pitched the final 8.2 innings of the game and only allowed three hits. She tallied a pair of strikeouts in the game and held Morehead State scoreless.

"Margaret did a great job of pitching for us today," said Ketcham. "She also pitched well yesterday when she came in, so I decided to let her have a go at it again in this game. I was very pleased with her poise and confidence in the circle and she forced Morehead State to hit a lot of ground balls and that's what we needed."

Samford jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but Morehead State rebounded with runs of its own in both the second and third frames.

The score remained at 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Bulldogs' Julie Handley crossed the plate with two outs. On the play, Handley was at third base with one out when Whitney Terry grounded out to the third baseman Becca Butler.

As Butler threw out Terry at first base, Handley took off from third and attempted to score the game-tying run. On the play at the plate, Handley was stopped before scoring, but the umpire ruled obstruction against Morehead State's catcher Korey Ellis. Handley's run tied the game at 2-2.

Both of Morehead State's runs were scored on solo homers. Starting pitcher Sarah Funston connected on a deep fly in the second inning, while Kari Quinn tallied a roundtripper in the third frame.

The Eagles were also led offensively by Brandy Bucher and Honkofsky. Both players tallied 2-for-4 performances at the plate.

The Samford University softball team will next be in action Wednesday at 5 p.m., as the Bulldogs host the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in a midweek doubleheader held at Bulldog Field.