MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Despite having its Day One games pushed back by soggy field conditions, the wait proved worthwhile for the Mississippi University for Women softball team. The Owls (9-3) extended their current winning streak to eight games, after defeating both Plattsburgh State, 4-2, and Wilson College, 7-4.
In the opener versus the Cardinals (0-1), The W got on the board in a hurry.
Jessica Deming (1-3)s led off with a triple. Then, with one out,
Riley Phillips (1-4) smacked an RBI double to left that made it 1-0.
Plattsburgh tied it in the bottom of the third and neither team generated any more offense until the seventh inning.
In the top of the seventh, the Owls broke open the 1-1 deadlock. The key blow was a two-run single by
Jaelynn Palmer (1-2) that drove home both pinch-runner
Lilly Harrison and Maia Joe (0-1).
Emilee Slade's (1-4) run-scoring single made it 4-1.
Pitcher
Rylie Grisham improved her personal record to 5-0 with her fourth complete game win. Grisham did permit 11 hits, but just the two earned runs. She struck out two and walked just one PSU batter.
In the second game of the day versus the Phoenix, it was The W bats that were on fire to the tune of 11 hits and seven runs. In the second frame, catcher
Ashton Farnell (2-3) had an RBI single that plated
Alysa Newman (1-2). Just a few batters later, Deming's (2-4) two-RBI triple made it 3-0.
The W doubled its score in the top of the fourth. Palmer (2-4) lined a two-run single. That was followed by a sacrifice fly off the bat of Phillips (0-3) that made it 6-0.
Wilson got a pair of runs back in its half of the fourth, 6-2. But the Owls added an insurance run in the fifth, thanks to a run-scoring double by Farnell.
In the circle,
Avery Byerley (1-1) got her first win for The W, going 5.0 innings. She struck out eight and walked two.
Bailey McClellan came in the game in the sixth inning with the potential tying run on deck and no outs. McClellan would eventually retire the side and then pitch a scoreless seventh to earn her first save for MUW.
