Softball Drops Final Game of FGCU Kickoff Classic

Sunday, February 11

Fort Myers, Fla.

8 AM

University of Memphis

3-1

NC State

3-2

Memphis

NC State

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Feb 11, 2018 | Softball

Box Score

Seventh inning rally falls short; Tigers move to 3-1 on the year

FORT MYERS, Fla. – In the final day of the FGCU Kickoff Classic, a seventh-inning rally fell short as the University of Memphis softball team fell to ACC foe NC State by a score of 2-1. The loss drops Memphis to 3-1 on the young season with the Northwestern State Tournament coming up next weekend.

"Molly pitched a great game, but we were unable to recover from a couple of defensive miscues," said head coach Natalie Poole. "We didn't take advantage in early situations and just came up short at the end."

After two scoreless frames by both squads, NC State got on the board in the bottom of the third inning. The Wolfpack capitalized on a pair of Memphis errors to take a 2-0 lead.

Down 2-0 in the top of the seventh, a pitch hit both Ashley Threatt and Tyler Johnson with no one out. In a pinch-hit situation, Kendall Lee singled to left field to cut the NC State lead in half. Memphis went on to load the bases with two outs, but struggled to bring the game-tying run across the plate.

Molly Smith pitched the complete game for the Tigers and finished with three strikeouts and just four hits allowed.

Who Stood Out
Tyler Johnson / 3B / Junior / Lakewood, Calif.
Johnson recorded one of the two Memphis hits and also accounted for the lone Memphis stolen base of the ball game. A pitch also hit Johnson in the top of the seventh with no one out.

Ashley Threatt / 1B / Junior / Big Rock, Tenn.
Threatt accounted for one of the two Memphis hits. In the top of the seventh inning, Threatt led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch for her second appearance on the bases.

Kendall Lee / UT / Freshman / Lakeland, Tenn.
In the top of the seventh inning trailing 2-0, Lee recorded an RBI pinch-hit single to cut the Wolfpack lead in half. She finished the weekend 2-for-2 in pinch-hit situations.

Scoring
NC State 2, Memphis 1

Bottom 3 – With one out, NC State earned its first base runner of the inning with an infield single. A fielder's choice play without a registered out put two runners on with one out before a triple cleared the bases. (2 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 0 left on base)
Top 7 – Ashley Threatt and Tyler Johnson led the inning off with a pair of hit by pitches. Kendall Lee, in a pinch-hit situation, drove in Ashley Threatt's pinch runner, Baylee Smith, to cut the Wolfpack lead in half. (1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 left on base)

Next Up For The Tigers
Memphis returns to action next weekend at the Northwestern State Tournament in Natchitoches, La. Four games are on the schedule, starting with Stephen F. Austin and Jackson State on Friday, Feb. 16. Live stats will be available at www.gotigersgo.com.

Tiger fans can also follow the team's live scoring through the Official Memphis Tigers app by Sidearm, available in both Apple and Android app stores. For more information on the University of Memphis softball team, follow the Tigers on Facebook and Twitter at @MemphisSoftball.