Jacksonville State 3 PSC 0
On Friday, the Pirate softball team traveled to Jacksonville, Alabama to face the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. Last season the Gamecocks went 41-12 as they won the Ohio Valley Conference crown and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. JSU capatilized on a couple errors and took an early 3-0 that the Pirates could never recover from. Pitching was strong on both sides as JSU struck out seven, while the Pirate pitchers sat down five.
All five Pirate pitchers saw time on the mound with Jensen Strickland receiving the start and she threw two hitless innings while striking out two batters. Savannah Foster also threw two innings and struck out three while allowing three hits.
Offensively the Pirates never got themselves going and stranded seven runners on base while Lia Johnson, Sadie Rusteika and Natalie Sorensen each recorded hits in the game.
PSC 7 Brewton Parker 1
On Saturday, the Pirates participated in the Tera Ross Memorial Tournament in Oxford, AL and defeated NAIA school Brewton Parker in the first game. Brewton Parker used an error in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead before the Pirate bats got things rolling in the second inning and took a 4-1 lead and never looked back. Alexis Guzman started things off with a double and immediately scored when Madison Marshall mashed a double of her own. After a couple walks Tracey Ferguson drove in three runs with a double to the right field fence. In the third, Marshall collected another double and later scored on a single off the bat of Brittney Rayfield to extend the lead to 5-1. A bases loaded walk to Ferguson tallied another run and was followed by Jensen Strickland being hit by a pitch to plate another run extending the lead to 7-1. The game ended in the 5th inning due to the tournament time limit.
Marshall was the leading hitter for the Pirates in the game as she went 3-for-3 and four other Pirates recorded one hit each. Savannah Foster received the start on the mound and allowed only one hit as she struck out five in three innings of work. Shelby Griffin closed out the game threw two hitless innings with two strikeouts.
PSC 2 West Georgia 2
In the second game of the day the Pirates took on NCAA Division II team University of West Georgia. The Wolves used a sacrifice flies in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. In the fifth inning PSC used back to back singles from Madison Marshall and Haley Willis to set the table for pinch hitter Kayla Liebman to drive in their first run of the game on a single to right field. Danielle de Ruiter immediately followed with a single of her own to tie the game 2-2. The score remained tied and the game ended in the sixth inning due to time limit.
De Ruiter was the leading hitter for the Pirates as she went 2-for-2 while four other Pirates contributed one hit each. Brittney Rayfield went the distance on the mound and gave up three hits while striking out two.
The Pirates will be back in action on Saturday, October 7th when they travel to the University of South Alabama to face the Jaguars and Mississippi College.