Michigan State University
9-7
Kennesaw State
12-3
Spartan Bats Stymied by Kennesaw State, 2-0
3/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State couldn't get its bats going in a 2-0 loss to Kennesaw State in the opener of the Gamecock Invitational on Saturday morning.
KSU pitchers Logan Viers and Morgan Sikes managed their way through the Spartan lineup by mixing in 10 fly ball and 10 ground-ball outs, as they had just one strikeout between them, and scattered five hits. The Owls only had six hits on the day, but were aided by a pair of MSU errors. Kristina Zalewski had a strong outing, tossing her fourth complete game of the season and scattering six hits and striking out seven, one off her season best.
The Spartans take on tournament host South Carolina at 1:50 pm to conclude today's action.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Kristina Zalewski went the distance for her fourth complete game of the year, scattering six hits, striking out seven and walking three in taking the hard-luck loss.
- Sarah Gutknecht went 2-for-3 to lead the Spartan offense.
- Lea Foerster and Celeste Wood each went 1-for-3, while Ebonee Echols came in as a pinch hitter and went 1-for-2.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- Zalewski walked a pair of batters in the first, but erased the two runners with a ground ball and pair of strikeouts - one swinging, one looking - to get out of the inning. In the second, she enticed a popup to get a double play after a leadoff single by Katie Cannington, and after Taylor Denton came up with a two-out single, Besson gunned her down trying to steal second for the third out of the inning.
- MSU looked to get something going off the bat, as Lea Foerster led off the bottom of the first, and McKenzie Long followed with a fielder's choice to third, beating out the throw and moving Foerster to second. A popout and fielder's choice left runners at the corners, but MSU couldn't get them across and stranded both.
- Kennesaw State pushed a pair of runs across in the the top of the third. Kara Chambers came up with a one-out single to left, and advanced to third on a throwing error when she tried to steal second. After a walk, back-to-back singles brought home both runners, but Zalewski got out of the inning with her third strikeout of the game.
- Ebonee Echols led off the bottom of the third as a pinch hitter, and fought through an 11-pitch at-bat, fouling off five straight pitches before she grounded out to short. She stayed in to play second.
- KSU made a pitching change after Celeste Wood and Sarah Gutknecht delivered back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but the Spartans coundn't capitalize. MSU had singles in the fifth Echols) and sixth (Gutknecht) as well, but stranded both.
- Michigan State was just 1-for-12 on the day with runners on base, and 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
- Freshman Lexi White got her first collegiate at-bat in the bottom of the seventh, coming in as a pinch hitter. She grounded out.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Morgan Sikes (5-0)
L: Zalewski, Kristina (3-4)
Batting:
2B: Megan Veringa 1
RBI: Courtney Sutter 1 ; Megan Veringa 1
SF: Courtney Sutter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kara Chambers 1 ; Missy Perkowski 1
SB: Kara Chambers 1 ; Hillary Kartman 1
CS: Taylor Denton 1
