On the opening day of the Racer Classic, the Lady Govs fell to Murray State on Thursday, March 9. According to letsgopeay.com, the final score was 3-1.
APSU trailed the Racers throughout the entire contest. The Lady Govs were able to score their one run in the top of the fifth inning. A double put Cassidy Hale into scoring position, and an in-field single hit by Kacy Acree brought Hale home.
APSU had other scoring opportunities; however, the Racers threw out two Lady Govs at the plate.
The strong defensive performance from the Racers secured their victory.
On the second day tournament, Friday, March 10, the Lady Govs won against Northern Illinois 6-3 and lost to Saint Louis 5-6.
Letsgopeay.com reported the Lady Govs took a 2-0 lead over Northern Illinois in the top of the second inning; however, in the bottom of the inning, the Huskies replied by scoring three runs. The Huskies took advantage of freshman pitcher Kelsey Gross, who struggled and walked three, hit a batter, and could not find control.
Christiana Gable relieved Gross and threw four perfect innings for APSU. With the Huskies’ offense contained, the Lady Govs were able to tie to game back up in the fourth inning on a base-loaded walk. In the next inning, Kendall Vedder hit an RBI single to take a 4-3 lead.
Autumn Hanners finished the game at the rubber for APSU. Hanners shut the huskies out and earned her first save of the season.
APSU tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh thanks to two errors by the Huskies’ defense.
The Lady Govs could not maintain the momentum from their win in Game 2 on Friday, as they fell to St. Louis 5-6.
The Lady Govs started strong by scoring the first three runs with back-to-back doubles by Danielle Liermann and Hale. Rikki Arkansas also scored a run on a sacrifice fly.
The Billikens closed the gap in the fourth inning because of errors from the Lady Govs, and the Billikens took the lead in the fifth at 3-4.
Although, APSU battled and brought the score to 5-4 with a two-run homer from Liermann.
Despite the comeback, APSU could not secure their lead and lost it on an error in the sixth.
The game remained tied at 5-5 until the eighth inning, which was started under international tie-breaking rules (starting the inning with a runner at second base). Saint Louis was able to get a run, but the Lady Govs failed do the same. This resulted in the 5-6 loss to St. Louis.
The Lady Govs were back in action on Sunday, March 12, in their last game of the Racer Classic. According to letsgoppeay.com, the Lady Govs faced Nothern Illinois once again and failed to see the same outcome.
APSU held a 1-0 lead until the fourth inning, but Hanners, the starting pitcher of the Lady Govs, gave up five consecutive singles to the Huskies, which resulted in four runs scoring. After getting their second out of the inning, the Lady Govs still could not end the inning. Northern Illinois scored their last run of the inning and the game, which brought the score to 1-5.
APSU attempted to bounce back when Vedder hit a two-run homer over the center field fence to bring the score to 3-5. The Lady Govs could not get any more runs across the plate, which resulted in the loss.
