Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
FIU
Softball drops doubleheader at FIU
3/15/2011 2:05:00 PM | Softball
MIAMI - The Middle Tennessee softball team battled through two tough games in their conference-opener on Tuesday at FIU, falling 3-2 in both contests to the Golden Panthers. MT moves to 5-15 on the season.
In the opener, the Blue Raiders took a well-fought pitchers' duel into the eighth, before Kaycee Popham blasted a solo-shot home run to deep center giving, taking the team a 2-1. In the bottom of the frame. FIU's Jesse Alfonso answered on the first at bat with a bomb of her own.
Freshman Jordyn Fisherback was strong in the loss, allowing just five hits and one earned run in the first seven innings. She struck out two in the game and walked three. The Greenville, Ohio, natives moves to 3-5 on the season.
MT showed great patience in the fifth as Kristi Marquez, Brittney Banania and Nina Davenport all worked walks. Natalie Ysais was then hit by a pitch to drive in the first Raider run of the contest. MT coaxed five total walks in the game.
Kelsey Dortch had her third double of the season in the fourth.
In the second game, Corrie Abel waiting no time, blasting her second homerun of the season. She leads the squad with 13 RBIs.
In the bottom half of the first, FIU took a two-run lead no a three-run shot over the left field by Kayla Burri.
Kayla Toney brought the Raiders back within one after two, when she pulled an inside pitch to right-center for an RBI-double. Dortch scored on the play after running out a chopper to the shortstop. This was Toney's sixth RBI and Dortch's ninth run scored.
In the sixth, Abel tallied her second double of the game. This is the first time in her illustrious career the senior has had two double in a game. Her teammates could not get her around.
In the loss, pitcher Janele Robinson gave up just the three runs off four hits. She walked three and had no strike outs. Robinson drops to 0-5 on the year.
Middle Tennessee will conclude their conference-opening series with FIU on Wednesday at 1 p.m., EST. Live stats will be available on GoBlueRaiders.com. In-game updates will be available on Twitter.com/MT_Softball.
