Kubesch No Hits MTSU, 1-0

Saturday, February 10

Baton Rouge, La.

6 PM

University of Memphis

3-1

Middle Tennessee

1-3

Memphis

Middle Tennessee St.

Senior Jenna Kubesch tossed a complete-game no-hitter against MTSU on Saturday.

Feb 10, 2007 | Softball

Box Score

Feb. 10, 2007

Box Score

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Brandon Kolditz
wkolditz@memphis.edu, (901) 871-5475

Memphis (3-1)		000   010   0  --  1  5  1
Middle Tennessee (1-3)	000   000   0  --  0  0  0
2B - (MEM) L. Dolfo (5).
WP - J. Kubesch (1-1). LP - S. Floyd (0-2). Save - None.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Having smoked the ball with the bat in a win against Missouri earlier in the day, the University of Memphis softball team turned to pitching perfection in a 1-0 no-hitter over Middle Tennessee State at the Easton Tiger Classic hosted by LSU on Saturday.

The perfection came from the arm of senior Memphis pitcher Jenna Kubesch (1-1) who held MTSU without a hit for the third no hit performance of her Memphis career. The Weimar, Texas native retired the first 10 batters of the game before allowing a walk with one out in the fourth inning. Kubesch finished with six strikeouts and allowed only three base runners.

"It's exciting," Kubesch said. "This is probably the first one of the three (no-hitters) that really relied on a lot of defense. Especially from Heather (Mott) at short. It was a team no-hitter, rather than just a pitching no-hitter."

MTSU pitcher Samantha Lloyd (0-2) nearly matched Kubesch pitch for pitch. Lloyd didn't allow a hit until the third inning and only two of the five Memphis hits went out of the infield.

A rather silent game through the first four innings, the Lady Tigers managed to string a couple of hits together in the fifth. Senior center fielder Lindsey Pridgen led off the inning with a single up the middle and was followed by two consecutive bunt singles from sophomore second baseman Tori Gross and sophomore left fielder Leandra Hines to load the bases. With one out, freshman shortstop Mott knocked the ball deep enough into left field to score Pridgen and give Memphis a 1-0 lead. The RBI is a team leading fourth for Mott.

A couple outstanding plays made Kubesch's spectacular night possible. Blue Raider center fielder Martha Davis lined a grounder deep into the hole at short. Mott quickly snatched the ball up and fired a strike to senior first baseman Kara Ross just in time to retire Davis.

Kubesch was later responsible for making her own outstanding defensive play in the fifth inning. MTSU first baseman Justine Cerda hit a hot shot back up the middle that bounced off Kubesch and was rolling away from her toward third. Kubesch hastily recovered the ball and threw in time to throw Cerda out at first.

The no hitter came dangerously close from being broken up with one out in the seventh inning. Right fielder Muriel Ledbetter lined a hit off the glove of third baseman Bridgette McNulty. Kubesch failed to let the error disrupt her as she struck out two in the final inning to secure the win.

The Lady Tigers improve to 3-1 on the season and earn the second seed in the tournament bracket to be played on Sunday. Memphis will face No. 3 seed Missouri (2-2) at 11:45 a.m. The Lady Tigers beat Mizzou 9-3 earlier on Saturday.

Tournament host and No. 1 seed LSU (4-0) will face fourth seeded MTSU (1-3) at 9:30 a.m. The tournament championship will be played at 2 p.m.

Notes
 Today's game is the third meeting between Memphis and Middle Tennessee State. Memphis now leads the series 2-1. The two teams will also meet for a doubleheader at Murfreesboro in April.
 Leila Dolfo hit her fifth double of the tournament in the third inning. Through four games, the sophomore is nearly halfway to her 2006 total of 12.
 Jenna Kubesch retired the first 10 MTSU batters in order before giving up a walk with one out in the fourth inning.