University of Missouri
Georgia State
Tiger Softball Wins Season Opening Tournament
2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 15, 2009
Atlanta, Ga. - The 17th-ranked Tiger softball team captured its first tournament win of the season after finishing the Georgia State First Pitch Classic with a 3-0 record that included Sunday's afternoon, 6-2, win over host school Georgia State. Improving to 2-0 on the season, newcomer Chelsea Thomas (Pleasantville, Iowa) was credited with the win, while senior Stacy Delaney (Freeland, Mich.) earned the save, the third in her two year career at Missouri.
Entering the game in the bottom of the sixth with two outs and runners on first and third, Delaney struck out three of the final four Panther batters, holding Georgia State hitless while recording a three-up, three-down inning in the seventh.
Missouri managed eight hits on the day, with senior Lindsey Ubrun (Riverside, Calif.), sophomore Abby Vock (Morrison, Ill.) and sophomore Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga.) all recording a multi-hit game. Panther pitcher Madi Gore closed down Missouri's offense in the first inning, but was unable to contain the Tigers who scored three earned runs and three unearned runs on three Georgia State errors.
"We're right where we need to be this time of year,"Missouri Head Coach Ehren Earleywine said. "The priority for us is to get everyone healthy. We have five or six key players who are playing with injuries. We're fortunate to have good depth, but we still need our leaders to get healthy in order to reach our goals."
Senior Micaela Minner (Sanger, Texas) drove in two of Missouri's runs with her third inning fly ball to left field and seventh inning sacrifice fly to right field. Minner finished the tournament with a squad high five RBI.
Taylor, who returned to her home state of Georgia for the tournament, closed out the three-game series 6-for-11 at the plate and scored seven of Missouri's 20 runs on the weekend.
The Tigers will return to action Friday, Feb. 20, at the Florida Atlantic Tournament held in Boca Raton, Fla. Over the three-day period, Missouri will take on Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Arkansas and Providence. Missouri's first game will pair the Tigers against FIU beginning at 11 a.m. (CT).
