The All State

By MARLON SCOTT | Senior Staff Writer

After the Lady Govs finished their fall schedule by defeating Roane State Community College in both games of a doubleheader, head coach Casey Dickson talked about her team.

“I’ve been here three years and this fall marks a huge milestone because of how well we did compared to last year and the year before that.

“We have scored more runs, had less runs scored against us and had less errors given up. It’s a great way to end the season, by looking at the past and what has happened in the present.

“We scored a lot of runs this fall. Our hitting came alive. I believe before today [Saturday, Oct. 23] we were hitting like .301 as a team, so I am really pleased.

“Morgan Brewer who is a sophomore, she had a 0 ERA all fall. We threw her, not all games, but we threw her in a few games as well.

“We have six new freshmen. We have two seniors leading the way. They are doing a great job, Tiffany Smith and Randall Davenport.

“I have a new pitching coach, Kristin Erb, and of course, my assistant coach working on the defense, Jessica Rohn.

“It’s exciting. We hosted a tournament the first of October out at Heritage. We had seven teams including us, and then we had a couple doubleheaders here to finish it off. We are extremely excited to have Taylor Mills. She pitched relief in the first game. We had her relief in the second. She is from Oklahoma where I went to school.

“She’s had a tremendous fall and I think she is maybe even 5-for-6 up to bat for this fall.

We are really excited to have someone as well as Morgan Brewer on the mound that has that courage to come in and shut people down. She is a great one to note. We have a lot of freshman out there. We have three freshmen in the infield. We still haven’t figured out our complete starting lineup. That’s what the fall is all about.”

“We definitely have a tough schedule ahead of us. I believe in playing the best to be the best. Not only is our conference a very competitive conference, but, we have a lot of non-conference games that will be competitive.”

“We will be hosting Tennessee and we will be hosting Kentucky. It is going to be an exciting spring.”

“We still have a long ways to go.

“We need one more pitcher that can really follow in the same footsteps as Morgan.

“A lot of great things are happening. Sometimes we can’t do the big leaps.

“So the baby steps, I will be pleased with, as long as we stay focused and on track.” TAS

By ANTHONY SHINGLER
Assistant Sports Editor

The Lady Govs softball team finished off a four-game home stretch with a three-game weekend series against Morehead State. The Lady Govs (14-28, 6-11 OVC) were competitive but could not get in the win column, losing 1-8, 2-3 on Saturday, April 17, and 1-6 in the series finale Sunday, April 18.

In game one, the Lady Govs ran into a Morehead State buzz-saw in the first two innings as Morehead State pounded out three runs in the first and four runs in the second to lead 7-0.

After settling into quality pitching and defense that held Morehead State scoreless for the next four innings, the lone Lady Gov run came when Jessica Chernak hit a solo homer. It was Chernak’s first of the season.

Morehead State scored one more run in the seventh inning to win 1-8.

In game two, the first three innings turned into a pitching battle with both teams scoreless until Morehead State collected three runs in the fourth inning.

Heading into the fourth inning, Morehead State scored three runs off three hits. Two runs coming off of a two-run triple by Kayla Ashbrook.

After two scoreless innings, the Lady Govs got a rally started when Abby Mabry singled up the middle to start the rally. Mabry was replaced by Tia Johnson. Johnson then moved to third base. Brittany Williams singled up the middle scoring Johnson. Shine Huwe singled through the left side scoring Farley.

With Williams in scoring position, Catie Cozart struck out, thus ending the Lady Govs’ rally.

Behind solid pitching Morehead State struck out Amy Mills, Shelby Norton and Ashley Bolda to end the game.

In the final game of the series, both teams came out with guns blazing and each team scored one run each in the first inning.

The Lady Govs lone run in the game came from Cozart’s sacrifice fly into left field bringing home Chernak. Chernak got on base with a single into left field.

The Lady Govs’ offense went stale from there, collecting only four hits in the remaining six innings of play.

Morehead State would add three runs in the fourth inning highlighted by a two-run home run by Bethany Ellis.

With no offense in sight, Morehead State poured on two more runs in the sixth inning to cap the game off, 1-6.

The Lady Govs will go on the road for a seven game road trip starting Wednesday, April 21, with a double-header against the University of Kentucky.

By ANTHONY SHINGLER
Assistant Sports Editor

The APSU Lady Govs softball team went on the road to face OVC rival Murray State Saturday, April 10. After dropping the first game of the series, 3-2 in eight innings, the Lady Govs were able to get on the winning track with a 9-3 win in the second game and a 4-2 win to close out the series.

In game one of the double header, the Lady Govs (13-25, 5-8 OVC) cranked up the defense as they were able to hold eight runners on base during the first four innings before allowing two runs in the fifth. The Lady Govs scored the first run of the game when Brittany Williams scored on an Amy Mills double to take a 1-0 lead. After scoreless innings, Murray State (13-21, 5-7 OVC) would take the lead 2-1 after a big sixth inning with one Lady Gov error that allowed one of the runs.

In the top of the seventh inning, Shelby Norton was hit by a pitch, but was replaced by Detra Farley as a pinch runner. Tiffany Smith singled to the shortstop bringing home Farley to tie the score. The very next inning Murray State would single up the middle by Ellyn Troup scoring Megan Glosser for the Lady Gov loss.

In game two, the Lady Govs offense turned up the heat in the first inning after a three-run homer from Shine Huwe. It is Huwe’s fifth homer of the season. Murray State responded with three runs of their own on a homer from Jenna Bradley to cut the Lady Gov lead to 4-3. Huwe lent a helping hand again on an RBI ground-out scoring Randal Davenport, who reached base after being walked.

The third inning proved to be an inning that helped the Lady Govs pack their lead to 6-3 after Norton scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Cole. The Lady Govs’ bats cooled off for three innings before being reignited in the seventh inning. Norton’s three-run home run proved to be the nail in the coffin to give the Lady Govs the win in the seventh inning.

In the final game of the series, the Lady Govs used solid defense and a two-run third and fourth inning to take the series. The two runs in the third came off a double from Catie Cozart, bringing home Williams and Jessica Chernak. While the two runs in the fourth inning came from a passed ball that allowed Farley to come home, the last run for the Lady Govs came from a single from Williams that allowed Cole to score for a 4-0 lead.

Murray State threatened to get on the board in the fifth inning but the Lady Govs defense stranded three Murray State base runners. In the seventh inning Murray State rallied to get two runs on the board, but Mattocks flied out to right field to end the game with two runners left on base.

“We’re very excited to come away with the win today and take the series,” APSU coach Casey Dickson said.

“We liked the motivation we had in the dugout where we had written ‘what are we playing for’ and it said the OVC tournament.”

APSU returns home this week to host Tennessee State and Morehead State in four OVC contests at Lady Govs Field, beginning with TSU for one game on Wednesday, April 14, at 6 p.m. and the Lady Eagles for a three-game series this Saturday, April 17.

By ANTHONY SHINGLER
Assistant Sports Editor

The Lady Govs softball team played host to SEMO Friday, April 2, for a doubleheader and Saturday, April 3, to finish out the series. For most of the season, the Lady Govs (8-23, 3-7 OVC) offense has been stagnant due to not taking advantage of runners in scoring position, but against the Redhawks (11-20, 2-8 OVC) the coming out party was apparent with the hometown Lady Govs taking 2-3 from the visitors (4-3, 5-12, 11-2). With the two wins, the Lady Govs are within one conference win of matching last year’s OVC total.

The Lady Govs opened the first game of the doubleheader on Friday, April 2, with a 4-3 win after eight innings of work. SEMO got on the board first, scoring two runs in the second inning and neutralizing the Lady Govs attack. The game looked all but over after SEMO took a 3-0 lead after the fourth inning.

Then in the sixth inning the Lady Govs offense came alive quickly when Randal Davenport doubled and advanced to third after a SEMO error. Jessica Chernak singled, bringing home Davenport. Amy Mills was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly. Catie Cozart singled up through the right side to tie the game up at 3-3 heading into extra innings.

From there, the Lady Govs took the ship home allowing only two hits in the seventh inning to move into the eighth inning. After a shut out inning by pitcher, Morgan Brewer (6-6), the Lady Govs started the inning off with a single by Mills to right field. With two on base, pinch hitter Shelby Norton flies out to center field, bringing home Mills on the sacrifice fly for the win in game one.

In game two of the doubleheader, the Lady Govs defense was left out to dry allowing five runs in the first three innings of play and six more over the last two innings. The Lady Govs did attempt to recover in the seventh inning but could only muster out one run while leaving three runners on the bases.

In the last game of the series, the Lady Govs pounded SEMO 11-2. The win is the most runs the Lady Govs have scored all year.

With the score tied at 2-2 heading into the fifth inning the Lady Govs bats came alive quickly. Jordan Cole started off the inning with a single. Norton proceeded with a single through the left side of the infield advancing Cole to second. Davenport then walked, loading the bases up with no outs. The Lady Govs then would add six runs before Norton blasted a three run homer over the left field wall to give the Lady Govs their first series win of the season.

The Lady Govs will take a break from conference action Wednesday, April 7, hosting Evansville in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.
Then the Lady Govs will go on the road to take on rival Murray State Saturday, April 10, in a double header followed by the final game of the series on Sunday, April 11. 

By ANTHONY SHINGLER
Assistant Sports Editor

With the month of March coming to a close, the slumping Lady Govs are currently sitting on a seven-game losing streak after being swept over the weekend by UT Martin Skyhawks on the road.

The Lady Govs (5-21, 0-5 OVC) opened up a three-game series Saturday, March 27, with a 1-6 and a 0-5 loss.

The Lady Govs could only collect one run in the double-header and errors opened the floodgates in the second inning of both games. The four errors (three in the first game and one in the second) combined in both games allowed UT Martin (24-4, 5-0 OVC) to score eight total runs, four in the first game and four in the second.

The only run on Saturday, March 27, came from Detra Farley. Farley opened the game with a bunt single and then stole second base to get in scoring position. Tiffany Smith then doubled into right-center field bringing home Farley for a Lady Gov run.

Even though the Lady Govs could only manage one run, they did provide a threat to score with eight hits, but failed to knock home runners to get points on the board.

Farley, Shine Huwe and Tia Johnson led the way for the Lady Govs with two hits each in the first game.

In the second game of the double-header, the Lady Govs could only manage three hits, two from Brittany Williams and a single from Smith. Williams single in the second inning was her 100th career hit.

In the final game of the series on Sunday, March 28, the Lady Govs jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Farley got on base with an infield hit and moved to third base on a throwing error on a bunt by Williams, who moved to second in the process.

The very next at bat, Smith blasted a single up the middle bringing home the two runs.

UT Martin then tied the score on a solo homerun by Megan Williams and an RBI single from Megan Van Arsdale.

The Lady Govs would then retake the lead before a Skyhawk attack, 3-2 in the top of the fourth courtesy of Jordan Cole’s first home run of the season.

The Skyhawk attack began to pour on. The Lady Govs allowed two runs in the fourth, five in the fifth and one in the sixth, as UT Martin swept the Lady Govs.
The Lady Govs look to head in the right direction Friday, April 2 with a double-header against Southeast Missouri at home at 5 p.m.