King walks it off, pitchers shine in doubleheader wins

Friday, May 7

Murfreesboro, TN

3:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

24-20, 10-7

FIU

13-25, 5-12

FIU

Middle Tennessee

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Tuesday, May 06

Next Event

FIU

L, 4-8

May 8 (Sat)

2:00 PM

Box Score Recap Game Notes PDF Box Gallery Watch Preview Live Stats History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Dodd, Corrina (8-4)

L: DUNFORD, K (4-13)

FIU

Batting:

2B: WHITEHEAD, K 1

RBI: ROSS,A 1 ; HILL, B 1

SH: GARCIA, M 1

Base Running:

RUNS: WHITEHEAD, K 1 ; HILL, B 1

HBP: JONES,T 1

Middle Tennessee

Batting:

2B: De La Cruz, Jocelynn 1 ; Cushing, Lexi 1

3B: Hill, Kelci 1

RBI: Hill, Kelci 1 ; Cushing, Lexi 2 ; Rodriguez, Lani 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Hill, Kelci 2 ; De La Cruz, Jocelynn 1 ; Harris, Amaya 1 ; Herring, Jaya 1

SB: Herring, Jaya 1

HBP: Smith, Claire 1

Ryan King

/ Softball

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

5/7/2021 8:52:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 MT vs FIU Game 1 PDF Box MT vs FIU Game 2 PDF Box MT Season Stats (5-7-21)MT C-USA (5-7-21)

By: Anthony Fiorella

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Blue Raider catcher Ryan King has certainly left fans with no shortage of memories in her four seasons in the blue and white. Heading into the final home stand of her career, the California native started it off with a bang.

With runners on second and third in a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 13th inning, yes, you read that correctly, King stepped into the box trying to put an end to the nearly three-hour long pitcher's duel.

FIU pitcher Brooklynn Linneman rocked and fired the 2-2 pitch home. King swung at the pitch that was left up in the strike zone and shot a line drive into straightaway center field, threw her hands up in celebration on her way to first and found herself in the middle of a mob of her Blue Raider teammates as the catcher's walk-off single started Middle Tennessee's weekend off on a high note with a 1-0 win.

"Coach (Chelsea) Hawkins always tells us pressure is a privilege, so I really wanted to keep that in my head (in the final at-bat)," King said. "I also really wanted to (walk it off) for Amber (Baldwin). She pitched a great game. I just really wanted to get a hit right there, but even if I didn't I knew that Claire (Smith) or whoever else would do it. I wasn't nervous at all because I knew my teammates had my back."

"Both pitchers were really good tonight in both games," said Blue Raider head coach Jeff Breeden. "Amber had control of game one from start to finish. I thought Ryan King played the best she has since she's been here. Everyone will look at the walk off as being big for her, but something else that was huge was throwing out base stealers."

Game one
While Ryan King's walk off was of course the crowning moment of game one, her battery mate Baldwin dazzled fans with 13 shutout innings to win her 10th game of the season. It was the longest outing of Baldwin's career, and an outing in which the right-hander struck out four and didn't allow a single extra-base hit. The complete-game shutout was the fourth of the season for the senior out of California.

"I'm so proud of her," King said of Baldwin. "It's sad with it being senior weekend. We've been playing together for so long, and she really deserved to win that game with how she pitched. I'm just really glad we did."

"It was huge," Breeden said of King dedicating her walk off to Baldwin. "Our team knew that (Baldwin) was throwing her butt off. When they see all those zeroes on the board, our kids really want to support our pitchers, especially Ryan for Amber. They are best friends and have been forever, so that's huge."

Behind Baldwin, Middle Tennessee flashed the leather, as fellow senior Lexi Cushing collected a career-high 22 putouts. Senior shortstop Summer Burgess had a career-high nine assists, and the Blue Raider defense as a whole combined for 27 assists and 39 putouts in an error-free start to the evening. Behind the plate, Ryan King threw out two batters attempting to steal second, marking the third time this season she's done that. On the year, King has now thrown out a career-high 13 runners attempting to steal.

"I take so much pride and have so much fun throwing runners out," King said. "Summer (Burgess) and Lani (Rodriguez) always put a great tag on them. I try not to think about it too much and just throw it when I see runners go. The big thing is I don't ever want to overthink it."

Offensively, King had the game's only RBI, and third baseman Jocelynn De La Cruz's two hits led the Blue Raiders in a game where only one player from each team had a multi-hit effort.

The 13-inning affair is tied for the longest game in program history, with the last such game coming on April 22, 2006 against Troy at home. It is the third time overall that the Blue Raiders have played in a 13-inning game.

King became the ninth different Blue Raider to walk one off this season and helped Middle Tennessee improve its record to 7-2 in extra-inning games this season and 12-4 in one-run games. The 1-0 win was also the third 1-0 victory the Blue Raiders have had this season. MT's seventh win in extras marks a new program record for wins in extra innings in a single season.

Game two
Middle Tennessee didn't waste any time getting on the board in game two, as the Blue Raiders plated two early runs on a Cushing two-RBI single back up the middle that scored Kelci Hill and De La Cruz after a one-out double from De La Cruz.

Hill led the Blue Raiders offensively in game two, going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. After collecting two base hits and scoring a run within the game's first two innings, Hill tripled in the fourth and drove in pinch runner Jaya Herring from first and wound up scoring her second run of the night on a ball that skipped into the Blue Raider dugout. That came just a half inning after Hill made a spectacular diving catch for the second out of the inning, moving from her spot shaded in right-center into almost dead left field to take away possible extra bases.

"(Hill) has a chance to be freshman of the year in the conference," Breeden said. "She tripled and scored on the overthrow and hit the ball hard a few more times. She made a game-changing play when she made that catch on one of their slappers. She's big for us all the time."

The multi-hit game for Hill was her team-high 16th of the season.

Another offensive performance of note for Middle Tennessee included Cushing's 2-for-3 night with two RBIs and a double in the bottom of the fifth that took two bounces off the top of the wall but stayed in the yard.

De La Cruz also had another multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

In the circle, Corrina Dodd got the start in game two. The junior earned her eighth win of the year, allowing just two runs and four hits in a full seven innings. As she's done much of this season, Dodd did a good job escaping a jam in the fifth inning by stranding a runner in scoring position after allowing a pair of runs to end the Panther threat and keep her team up by two runs.

"We hit well in the second game, but we played great defense tonight, and (Baldwin and Dodd) were strong," Breeden said. "This is the best defense we've played since I've been here. We've had great defensive practices. We do two-out drills every day where if the ball touches the grass, they're running. We know that if there's two outs, we're going to make plays, and it shows on the field."

Game two marked the ninth game in a row in which Dodd allowed less than four earned runs in a start, the longest such stretch of her career. The Alabama native struck out four and walked just one Panther in the complete-game effort. Before giving up her first run in the fifth, Dodd combined with game one starter Amber Baldwin to toss 17-straight scoreless innings to begin the series.

What's next?
MTSU will play game three with the Panthers tomorrow here in Murfreesboro. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CT, and a senior day ceremony for the 2020 seniors will begin 30 minutes prior to first pitch.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter (@MT_Softball), Facebook (Blue Raider Softball) and Instagram (@mt_softball).

Anthony Fiorella is a writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @a_fiorella74 and also follow @MT_Softball on Twitter and @mt_softball on Instagram for more on the Blue Raiders.

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