Michigan State roundup: Spartan softball tripped up twice

Michigan State dropped its third straight game, falling to Kennesaw State, 7-3 on Saturday evening.

MSU is now 15-7 overall with its first multiple-game losing streak of the season. Prior to the weekend, MSU had not lost back-to-back games; MSU fell in walkoff fashion both Friday night to Kennesaw (9-8) and earlier on Saturday to Tennessee Tech (10-8).

MSU gave up double-digit hits for the third straight game, as Kristina Zalewski scattered 10 in her first complete-game effort of 2017. She struck out seven and walked just one. The Spartans had seven hits in the game and drew four walks, stranding nine runners - the second-highest total in a game this season.

Lea Foerster led off the game with her seventh home run of the season, which was MSU's only lead of the game. Ebonee Echols had a RBI single in the sixth inning to cut KSUs lead down to 6-3, but an insurance run for the home team made it a four-run contest.

A walkoff grand slam by Callen Griffen gave Tennessee Tech a 10-8 victory in the afternoon.

Both Kelly Zackrison and Celeste Wood had two hits for the Spartans, while Sarah Gutknecht hit her fifth homer of the season. The Spartans had 10 hits as a team, but also committed three errors. TTU had 10 runs on nine hits and three errors, walking five times.

Bridgette Rainey got the start and was relieved by Jordan Watson with just one out in the bottom of the first. Watson threw 4.2 innings, striking out one and allowing just one earned run. Rainey came back to throw in the bottom of the sixth, and Valerie Kaff came on in the seventh with two on and none out, giving up the grand slam to Griffen to take the loss (1-1).

ROWING

Spartans post strong results in season opener at Oak Ridge

Michigan State began its 2017 season on Saturday with two of the three sessions of the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. MSU had five boats in action, and saw both positive results and growth in all of its entries.

“I thought today was a really positive way to open the season,” said head coach Matt Weise. “We were happy with how they approached our training over this spring break and how they made the adjustments that we talked about between sessions. Our crews executed well, so we’ll be looking for them to build upon that when we get to the course for Sunday’s races.”

The varsity eight finished second behind Virginia (6:32.563) in the morning session by six seconds, clocked in a time of 6:38.751. while finishing open water ahead of Notre Dame (6:46.557) and West Virginia (7:03.421). In the afternoon, MSU won its heat in a time of 6:38.388, ahead of Big Ten foe Minnesota (6:49.935), Clemson (6:52.966) and West Virginia (7:04.629).

The second eight had the same finishes - second place behind Virginia in the morning heat and a heat victory in the afternoon. The Spartan second eight checked in with a time of 6:48.67, which was six seats ahead of Notre Dame (6:51.198) and open water over West Virginia (7:14.418). In the afternoon, MSU (6:51.429) edged Clemson by just under a half length (6:53.198) and then had open water over the Golden Gophers and Mountaineers.

In the Novice eight, MSU was just a half length back on the Cavaliers, (6:50.302-6:52.551), as the two crews raced down the course leaving both Notre Dame (7:11.514) and West Virginia (7:50.004) behind. In the afternoon, the Spartan novices were in a race against themselves, as their time of 6:58.875 was more than 45 seconds ahead than the Mountaineers (7:44.263) and better than 1:20 ahead of Tennessee.

The second novices raced just once, on Saturday afternoon - they were nine seconds back in second place (7:09.409) behind the Notre Dame first novice eight (7:00.218), but still open water ahead of Kansas (7:24.519) and Tennessee (7:44.647).

MSU’s four, which had some late lineup changes, had a pair of third-place finishes on Saturday, behind both Virginia and Notre Dame in the morning session (7:51.070) and behind Minnesota and Clemson (7:54.263) in the afternoon. MSU held a half-length lead over West Virginia in the morning race, and improved the margin to open water in the afternoon.

Racing concludes in Oak Ridge on Sunday morning. MSU participates in the first set of heats on the day, against Virginia, Michigan, and Tennessee.

- MSU Athletic Communications