MSU roundup: 22 runs by softball team most in 42 years
Michigan State was firing on all offensive cylinders Saturday afternoon, scoring 22 runs in defeating North Dakota, 22-5, in Madiera Beach, Florida. MSU did damage both with smallball and the longball, as MSU had four home runs (including two grand slams) and two doubles among its 18 hits. MSU also drew seven walks in the game, and had three stolen bases.
The Spartans are now 6-2 on the year, while North Dakota is 5-3.
The 22 runs for MSU is its most in a game in 42 seasons - the Spartans scored a 25-4 win over Calvin on April 22, 1975.
North Dakota also swung big bats, hammering four home runs - but the Spartans had top-to-bottom production from their lineup, including players who entered the game in later innings. Leading 10-0 after the first inning, MSU went to its bench liberally. Both freshman Summer Callahan and sophomore Kelly Zackrison had base hits in their first at-bats of the season.
MSU’s four home runs included grand slams by Ebonee Echols and Jordan Davis - for Davis, it was the first home run of her collegiate career. Celeste Wood and Kelcey Carrasco also hit round-trippers.
McKenzie Long had four hits on the day, going a perfect 4-for-4 - that’s the second-most hits in a game in Spartan history, the 38th time in school history its been accomplished In addition, Lea Foerster was 2-for-2 with three walks in the game - her three bases on balls is the second-highest total in a game in school history, which was last accomplished by Sarah Gutknecht last year at Ohio State.
Freshman Jordan Watson improved to 3-0 in the circle this season, as she went the first three innings and left with a large lead. She allowed four hits and struck out two. Wood finished the game in the circle, allowing just one hit in two innings of work.
In the first game, sophomore Brianna Jones stymied the Michigan State bats for six innings on Saturday morning, helping her Southern Illinois team post a 4-2 victory over MSU. Jones tossed seven innings of four-hit ball, striking out five. Echols had a RBI single in the seventh that brought MSU within a pair, but the Spartans stranded a pair on the basepaths in the final frame.
Bridgette Rainey struck out six in 4.1 innings of work, allowing just one hit and a pair of earned runs. Jordan Watson went the balance of the game, scattering six hits and allowing the other two runs. The four MSU hits were spread throuout the lineup, as Foerster smacked her fifth double of the season and Gutknecht, Kaitlyn Eveland, and Echols had the other base hits.
- MSU Athletic Communications