Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Saturday, April 2
Murfreesboro, TN
4:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
16-20, 3-5
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FAU
19-18, 7-4
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Florida Atlantic
0
2
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Middle Tennessee
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6
3
Photo by: Maya Lewis/MT Athletic Communications
Mealer hits walk-off home run Saturday to even series against FAU
4/2/2022 8:16:00 PM | Softball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee Softball (16-20, 3-5 C-USA) evened the series against the Florida Atlantic Owls (19-18, 7-4 C-USA), earning a 4-3 walk-off win in the seventh inning on Saturday evening at Blue Raider Softball Field.
"We look at taking it one game at a time," expressed head coach Jeff Breeden. "Each one of these [games] are individual events, even though there are three on a weekend in a series. But if you want to get to championship Sunday, and you got a chance to win a series, then you [must] win either Friday or Saturday."
FAU took the opening lead in the second. The Owls led off the inning with a single. A Blue Raider error at first put two Owls on with no one out. FAU then reached on a fielder's choice, and a throwing error from Woods allowed the Owls first run to score, 1-0. FAU's Maya Amm then connected on a deep sacrifice fly into left field to bring across one more and take the 2-0 lead after two.
Middle Tennessee finally got things going in the fourth. Sophomore Amaya Harris led off the inning, drawing a hit by pitch to put one on with no one out. After an FAU double play, the Blue Raiders battled back to try and get on the board. Freshman Ava Tepe reached on the Blue Raiders' second HBP of the inning, before junior Kelci Hill drew a seven-pitch walk to put two on with two down. Freshman Claire Czajkowski followed Hill with a two-out gem, connecting on a single through the right side to bring Tepe home from second and bring the Blue Raiders back within one, 2-1.
FAU kicked its lead back out to two in the top of the sixth after the Owls' Zoey Jones knocked a two-out solo shot out over the right-field wall to give FAU the 3-1 lead.
It came down to the Blue Raiders final half-inning in the seventh. Freshman pitcher Claire Woods connected on a single into right center to get the Blue Raiders going. After sophomore Jaya Herring came in to pinch run for Woods, sophomore Shelby Sargent knocked her fourth double of the season, to move Herring to third and put the Blue Raiders' tying run in scoring position. FAU's Donnie Gobourne threw a wild pitch past the FAU catcher that rebounded off the backstop wall, which scored Herring and brought the Blue Raiders deficit down to one, 3-2. After a groundout that moved Sargent to third, freshman shortstop Laura Mealer became the hero of the day as she connected on a one-out two-RBI home run over the center-field wall, her sixth of the season, to walk it off and give the Blue Raiders the 4-3 win over the Owls.
Mealer led the Blue Raiders against the Owls. After having a slow start to the day, Laura Mealer connected on the game-winning shot, knocking in a game-high two RBIs, scoring a run, and finishing 1-for-4 on the day. Sargent and Czajkowski also had a great day for the Blue Raiders. Sargent, finished with the game's only multi-hit performance of the day, going 2-for-3, including her fourth double of the season to set up the Blue Raiders game-winner, as well as scoring a run in the contest. Czajkowski knocked in the Blue Raiders' third RBI and finished 1-for-3 in the win.
Freshman Claire Woods pitched her third complete game of the season, while also batting sixth on the day for the Blue Raiders. Woods pitched seven full innings, allowing just three runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits and struck out one Owl in the contest to secure her second win of the season.
"Here's what Laura Mealer is, just one word, she's a winner," said Breeden. "Deep down inside, she's a winner. Claire also came up huge for us today, she was in the lineup hitting today and pitched a solid game for us. She also got the leadoff hit in the seventh for us that started that rally. That was huge."
Up Next
The Blue Raiders and Owls will face off on Sunday, April 3 for the series win with first pitched scheduled for 12 p.m. CT at Blue Raider Softball Field.
FOLLOW THE BLUE RAIDERS
Follow Middle Tennessee Softball on social media on Facebook (/BlueRaiderSoftball), Twitter (MT_Softball) and Instagram (MT_Softball).
"We look at taking it one game at a time," expressed head coach Jeff Breeden. "Each one of these [games] are individual events, even though there are three on a weekend in a series. But if you want to get to championship Sunday, and you got a chance to win a series, then you [must] win either Friday or Saturday."
FAU took the opening lead in the second. The Owls led off the inning with a single. A Blue Raider error at first put two Owls on with no one out. FAU then reached on a fielder's choice, and a throwing error from Woods allowed the Owls first run to score, 1-0. FAU's Maya Amm then connected on a deep sacrifice fly into left field to bring across one more and take the 2-0 lead after two.
Middle Tennessee finally got things going in the fourth. Sophomore Amaya Harris led off the inning, drawing a hit by pitch to put one on with no one out. After an FAU double play, the Blue Raiders battled back to try and get on the board. Freshman Ava Tepe reached on the Blue Raiders' second HBP of the inning, before junior Kelci Hill drew a seven-pitch walk to put two on with two down. Freshman Claire Czajkowski followed Hill with a two-out gem, connecting on a single through the right side to bring Tepe home from second and bring the Blue Raiders back within one, 2-1.
FAU kicked its lead back out to two in the top of the sixth after the Owls' Zoey Jones knocked a two-out solo shot out over the right-field wall to give FAU the 3-1 lead.
It came down to the Blue Raiders final half-inning in the seventh. Freshman pitcher Claire Woods connected on a single into right center to get the Blue Raiders going. After sophomore Jaya Herring came in to pinch run for Woods, sophomore Shelby Sargent knocked her fourth double of the season, to move Herring to third and put the Blue Raiders' tying run in scoring position. FAU's Donnie Gobourne threw a wild pitch past the FAU catcher that rebounded off the backstop wall, which scored Herring and brought the Blue Raiders deficit down to one, 3-2. After a groundout that moved Sargent to third, freshman shortstop Laura Mealer became the hero of the day as she connected on a one-out two-RBI home run over the center-field wall, her sixth of the season, to walk it off and give the Blue Raiders the 4-3 win over the Owls.
Mealer led the Blue Raiders against the Owls. After having a slow start to the day, Laura Mealer connected on the game-winning shot, knocking in a game-high two RBIs, scoring a run, and finishing 1-for-4 on the day. Sargent and Czajkowski also had a great day for the Blue Raiders. Sargent, finished with the game's only multi-hit performance of the day, going 2-for-3, including her fourth double of the season to set up the Blue Raiders game-winner, as well as scoring a run in the contest. Czajkowski knocked in the Blue Raiders' third RBI and finished 1-for-3 in the win.
Freshman Claire Woods pitched her third complete game of the season, while also batting sixth on the day for the Blue Raiders. Woods pitched seven full innings, allowing just three runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits and struck out one Owl in the contest to secure her second win of the season.
"Here's what Laura Mealer is, just one word, she's a winner," said Breeden. "Deep down inside, she's a winner. Claire also came up huge for us today, she was in the lineup hitting today and pitched a solid game for us. She also got the leadoff hit in the seventh for us that started that rally. That was huge."
Up Next
The Blue Raiders and Owls will face off on Sunday, April 3 for the series win with first pitched scheduled for 12 p.m. CT at Blue Raider Softball Field.
FOLLOW THE BLUE RAIDERS
Follow Middle Tennessee Softball on social media on Facebook (/BlueRaiderSoftball), Twitter (MT_Softball) and Instagram (MT_Softball).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Woods, Claire (2-5)
L: Donnie Gobourne (1-6)
Batting:
HR: Zoey Jones 1
RBI: Zoey Jones 1 ; Maya Amm 1
SF: Maya Amm 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Zoey Jones 1 ; Riley Olson 1 ; Myah Murray 1
CS: Olivia Peterson 1
Batting:
2B: Sargent, Shelby 1
HR: Mealer, Laura 1
RBI: Mealer, Laura 2 ; Czajkowski, Claire 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mealer, Laura 1 ; Tepe, Ava 1 ; Herring, Jaya 1 ; Sargent, Shelby 1
SB: Shoulders, Abby 1
HBP: Harris, Amaya 1 ; Tepe, Ava 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
OF/INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballSS/2B
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P/3B
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