Herd takes record to 13-6 after Holiday Inn-vitational

With the cold weather breaking, home field advantage and a couple of extra innings, the Marshall softball team placed second in the Marshall Holiday Inn-vitational Tournament.

The tournament started Friday afternoon for the Herd and ended in extra innings Sunday evening.

Marshall ended its home opening weekend winning three games and losing two, pushing the Herd's overall record to 13-6.

Head coach Shonda Stanton said she was pleased with her team's play over the weekend with the exception of a few mistakes.

"We saw some quality pitching, and we were able to compete," Stanton said. " Both Kent State and Cleveland State have great pitchers, and we were able to get hits off of both.

"We made games close with a few defensive miscues," she said. "Without the mistakes we would have had a chance to win it.

Stanton said she wants to use the warmer weather to her team's advantage.

"Now that it looks like the weather is breaking hopefully we will be able to work on defense more in practice," Stanton said. "It is hard to get as many reps as we need when we are inside."

Stanton said it was refreshing to be at home.

"It is so much more relaxing to play at home where we can be in our own beds," she said.  "Being at home gives us an extra day of practice."

Stanton said the competition her team  faced was good preparation for upcoming games.

"The teams we played this weekend helped us to prepare to take on Valpo on Tuesday," Stanton said.

The other three teams participating in the tournament at Dot Hicks Field were Kent State, Cleveland State and Delaware.

Marshall's two losses on the weekend came from tournament winner Kent State. The Herd lost to Kent State 3-2 on Friday and 8-4 on Sunday.

Saturday's play brought the Herd two wins. The first came when Marshall mercy ruled Delaware 13-3 in just five innings.  Marshall had a much closer second game winning 4-2 against Cleveland State.

The Herd ended the tournament facing Cleveland State for a second time during the weekend. Marshall came out with a 4-3 win in a nine-inning game that lasted almost two and half hours.

Senior pitcher Katie Murphree came in at the top of the fourth inning to help the Herd come out with a win.

"I had to be confident in myself," Murphree said. "I knew what I had to do and I had to believe that I could do it.

"In the extra innings I knew it had to go three up, three down," she said. "Then it's to batting, and our bats always come through."

Sophomore catcher Rebecca Gamby ended the game on her bat. Gamby hit a walk-off a single that sent sophomore Alianna Telles from third base to home for the winning run.

Haley Thaxton can be contacted at thaxton21@marshall.edu.