Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Memphis
Blue Raiders Bit by Tigers 1-0
2/10/2007 7:51:00 PM | Softball
BATON ROUGE, La. - Middle Tennessee softball (1-3) was shutout by instate rival Memphis (3-1) 1-0 Saturday in its second game of the day at the Easton Tiger Classic.
Thanks to the Blue Raiders' lone win in the tournament, a 6-0 victory over Centenary earlier in the day, Middle Tennessee will be one of the four seeded teams on Sunday at the tournament. Middle Tennessee will be the No. 4 seed and will face No. 1 seed and 9th ranked LSU at 9:30 a.m.
Memphis hurler Jenna Kubesch threw a no-hitter, completely shutting down the Blue Raider offense. Kubesch sat down 10 consecutive Blue Raider batters before giving up a walk to Ashley Cline in the fourth inning. Katie Mielke's fielder's choice erased Cline, and though Mielke stole her first base of the season, she was stranded on second when Muriel Ledbetter flew out to left field.
Kubesch got the offensive support she needed in the fifth inning after four scoreless innings. Three consecutive Tiger singles loaded the bases and a sacrifice fly by Heather Mott plated the Memphis run. It was all the Tigers would need to secure the win.
Middle Tennessee attempted a late rally in the seventh inning when senior Muriel Ledbetter reached first on a Memphis error with one out. The threat was nullified when Ledbetter was thrown out on a fielder's choice and Jessica Ives struck out.
Sophomore pitcher Sam Floyd had a solid outing but the lone Tiger run in the fifth inning was the deciding factor in the game for the hurler. Floyd allowed one run on five hits and struck out two and took the loss, falling to 0-2 on the season.
Freshman lefty hurler Lindsey Vander Lugt entered the game in the seventh inning with Tiger runners at first and second and two outs. Vander Lugt forced a groundout to end the inning.
