Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Middle Tennessee State's softball team (3-3) swept East Tennessee (1-3) 5-4, 7-6 in MTSU's home opener Wednesday at Lady Raider Field in Mufreesboro, Tenn. Tiffany McVay (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.)had two hits in the first game for ETSU, while Lindsay Lane (Erwin, Tenn.) drove in three runs with a homerun. Lane also had an RBI in the nightcap, a game which Danielle Spetar (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the Bucs with three hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs. In game one, MTSU short stop Cortney Mitchell hit a homerun over the centerfield fence in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 4-4 tie. Overall, Mitchell ended the game with two runs, a double, a homerun and one RBI. Lady Raider pitcher Stayc Preator (2-1) picked up the win with six innings pitched allowing four runs on five hits and striking out nine. Freshman Leaora Brannon pitched a one hit shutout in the sixth inning, and Preator was put back into the game at the top of the seventh to close out the game. Sophomore Dani DeCamino also had a big outing in the first game as she hit her first homerun of the season and has five in her career. She ended the game with three RBI and on run scored. In second game action Middle Tennessee jumped on the scoreboard early with three runs in the first inning, after ETSU scored one run in the top of the first. Erica Buhl sent home Mitchell on a sacrifice fly, Kip Phillips scored on a wild pitch and pinch runner Brandy Davis scored a ETSU error. ETSU scored one run in the second and took the lead in the top of the third with two runs and extended the lead to 5-3 in the top of the fourth. Middle Tennessee tied it 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth when DeCamino hit an RBI single to send home Mitchell and Phillips scored on a Bucs error. The Lady Raiders took the lead and got one run and a spare in the bottom of the sixth when Jennifer Dorais scored on a wild pitch and Erica Buhl hit sacrifice fly to send home Mitchell. In the second game Mitchell put up big numbers again as she was 2-of-3 with three runs scored and drew a walk. Freshman Tiffany Childress started the game and threw 1.2 innings, and then freshman Muriel Ledbetter entered the game and went 5.1 innings. Ledbetter picks up the win and improves to 1-1 overall and had nine strikeouts and allowed four hits.