The Murray State softball team avenged a Saturday loss to Kent State, by blanking the Golden Flashes, 10-0, in five innings Sunday in the final game of the 2017 Mercer Invitational at Sikes Field in Macon, Georgia.
Senior Taylor Odom got the Racers on the board early with an RBI-single in the first and an RBI-double in the third to give Murray State a 2-0 advantage.
In the fourth, junior Erika Downey blasted a two-run double, that was followed by a two-run home run from sophomore Brenna Finck in the very next at bat. The home run was the first of Finck’s career and it extended MSU’s lead to 6-0.
Later in the inning, senior Jocelynn Rodgers made it 8-0 with a two-RBI single, before Maggie Glass capped the scoring in the following at bat with a two-run home run of her own. Up 10-0 in the top of the fifth, senior Mason Robinson retired the Golden Flashes in order in the top of the inning to end the game via the eight-run rule.
Robinson allowed five hits over five innings with two strikeouts and no walks to move to 3-0 on the year. Finck, Odom and freshman Kaylee Ranburger led the Racers in the contest with two hits each. Finck had two runs and two RBIs, while Ranburger had two runs and Odom had two RBIs.
The win gives Murray State a 4-1 start to the season, tying the best five-game start in program history. The Racers will return to action next weekend at the 2017 Mardi Gras Invitational in Mobile, Alabama. While in Mobile, the Racers will take on Butler, Jackson State, McNeese State and host South Alabama.
by Parker Griffith
