Wisher Fans Nine in Win Over Jackson State

Tuesday, March 1

Memphis, Tenn.

5 p.m.

University of Memphis

5-10

Jackson State

3-8

Jackson State

MEMPHIS

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Mar 01, 2016 | Softball

Box Score

Seale goes 2-for-3 and throws out two stealing in home opening win.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – Freshman pitcher Bayleigh Wisher struck out nine and held Jackson State (3-8) without a run in a 5-2 win in Memphis' (5-10) home opener, Tuesday night. Junior catcher Brittany Seale went 2-for-3 and caught two runners stealing in the victory.

"Bayleigh is just showing a lot of toughness for us as a freshman," Head Coach Natalie Poole said. "I think the first couple of outings, she had a learning curve, but she's just continuing to get better and she's definitely gone out to fight. She understands what we're trying to accomplish and she's doing a good job of backing it up."

Wisher came in three batters in to the second inning, with Memphis trailing 2-0 with no outs. Facing her first batter in her first home appearance, she induced a groundout that moved a Jackson State runner over to third, but that's as far as JSU could get as Wisher got a pop-out and a strikeout looking to get out of the inning.

"I was just trying to keep them from scoring another run," Wisher said. "I was kind of nervous because it was my first home opener, but I'm glad we got the W and I'm glad I pitched well."

The Memphis offense then went to work behind the freshman's opening inning. Kyler Trosclair singled through the left side and was sacrified over to second by Jessie Lamb. That set the table for catcher Brittany Seale and the junior recorded her third double of the season, scoring Trosclair to halve the Memphis deficit, 2-1.

The home Tigers then took the lead in the fourth inning. Brooke Lee singled, getting on base for a second time and was almost caught at second on a fielder's choice in Addison Maxwell's at-bat. But the JSU shortstop could not reel in the soft toss from the falling second baseman, leaving two Memphis runners on. Hannah Harrell then laid down a bunt to move both runners over and centerfielder Lindsay Crowdus drilled her second double of the season, scoring both Lee and Maxwell and giving Memphis the 4-3 lead.

"We did a good job of staying the course offensively," Poole said. "We didn't press because we didn't score early. I think this was something to be said about our offense this year. We're definitely in a better place offensively to be able to score to win."

Memphis tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth after Wisher forced the JSU lineup to go three-up and three-down.

Lamb singled and stole second to get in scoring position. Seale then added her second hit of the night and advanced to second as the JSU defense tried to throw out Lamb at third. Sami Jo Schulz then came in as a pinch runner and advanced to third when a Lindsey Stickrod flyout allowed Lamb to tag and score, for 4-2. JSU's pitcher, Ashley Lozano had contact issues and missed a ball being thrown back to her from her catcher. Heads up baserunning allowed Schulz to score while Lozano scrambled to find the ball.

JSU tried to rally back, as Denisha Knight singled to start the sixth inning, one of just four hits Wisher gave up on the night. But Seale was ready and threw out Knight following a strikeout, the second runner of the night that she gunned down at second base.

Wisher closed out the win with a pair of ground outs for her second win of the season.

Memphis will play one more mid-week game before travelling to LSU for a tournament this weekend. Memphis will host Wright State, Wednesday, at 5 p.m. at the Memphis Softball Complex on the University of Memphis' Park Avenue Campus.

"We need to have a better start against Wright State than we did tonight," Poole said. "We need to keep the game to where we can score first, that's really our goal. So that's our focus for tomorrow, that and maybe have some better at-bats for a couple of our girls, then try to get another win."