Softball Draws Split at South Carolina Invitational

Saturday, February 21

Columbia, SC

11:00 AM

Middle Tennessee

Radford

2/21/2004 4:41:00 PM | Softball

By: MT Media Relations

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Middle Tennessee softball (3-1) split in first day action of the South Carolina Invitational Saturday. In game one of the South Carolina Invitational, Middle Tennessee defeated Radford 9-4. In the second game, the Lady Raiders fell to No. 23 South Carolina 5-0. Katie Tompkins and Cortney Mitchell opened the first inning with back-to-back singles and then Tompkins stole third and Mitchell stole second. The double steal set up the first run of the game as catcher Angie Huebner hit a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Tompkins. Radford answered in the bottom of the second off an RBI single by Sara Beth Clayton, which scored Lara Wohlgemuth. In the second inning, Melissa Weiland was hit by a pitch and then stole second and then advanced to third after Liz Davis reached first off a Radford error. Weiland gave the Lady Raiders a 2-1 lead when she scored off another Radford error that sent Trish White to first. Davis came back in the top of the fourth and hit the first homerun of her career with a two run shot over the left field wall. She sent home Brittany Herald who began the inning with a single to right field. Middle Tennessee added two runs in the fifth and sixth inning and then capped off the game with three more in the top of the seventh. Radford put together a three run seventh to make the score closer then it really was. Sophomore Jennifer Dorais picked up her first win of the season on the mound. She threw 5.2 innings allowing three runs, five hits and striking out four. Junior Meghan Cornett provided the Gamecocks most of its offense in its 5-0 win against Middle Tennessee at the Gamecock Invitational Saturday. The first baseman hit two home runs and drove in four of USC's five total runs. Senior Stacey Johnson (2-0) pitched her second complete game of the season as she gave up only two hits and struck out six. The Gamecocks took the lead early and for the third time this season, USC hit a home run in the first inning. Jennings put Carolina on the board with her fourth long ball of the season. In the second inning Megan Cornett added to USC's lead with her first home run of the season, giving the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead. Cornett hit her second home run of the game in the sixth inning with a one-out three-run long ball. The runs put USC up 5-0. In the seventh, Johnson retired the first two batters before she gave up a walk, but Michelle Wilkes grounded out to third to end the inning and sealed the win for the Gamecocks. This marks the third shutout in five games for the Garnet and Black this season. Jennings went 2-for-2 with her home run and scored two runs, giving her 10 career home runs, four on the season. For Cornett, it marked her 11th and 12th career home runs, moving her into sixth among Carolina's all-time leaders. Middle Tennessee junior hurler Crystal Bobo took the loss falling to 1-1 on the season.