Softball Splits On Opening Day

Friday, February 8

Miami, Fla.

9 AM

University of Memphis

1-0

Bryant

0-1

Memphis

Bryant

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Feb 08, 2019 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Five players registered hits in both games Friday

MIAMI, Fla. – The University of Memphis softball team kicked off the 2019 season Friday afternoon with a split against Bryant and FIU. The Tigers won game one of the day against the Bulldogs by a score of 10-2 before dropping the afternoon contest to the host Panthers by a 2-1 margin.

"I think for the first day we came out and pitched well," said head coach Natalie Poole. "Our pitchers did a good job of keeping us in the games."

The Tigers capitalized early against Bryant, propelled by three doubles in the top of the second inning. One more run in the fourth combined with three more in the sixth lifted the Tigers to a 10-0 lead. Bryant attempted to keep the game alive with a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Memphis junior Karli Perque pitched her way out of a jam to end the contest in six innings.

"I thought we came out swinging and managed ourselves a lot better mentally and physically in the first game," added Poole.

FIU struck first in the bottom of the first on a defensive miscue by the Tigers. Memphis evened up the score at 1-1 with the help of freshman Samantha Ibison's lead-off single and Delaney Smith's single up the middle to drive Ibison home.

The Panthers quickly had an answer in the bottom half of the third with a lead-off triple combined with an RBI groundout that proved to be the difference in the ball game.

"Overall I was pleased with today's effort, but collectively would like to see us do a better job from a mental perspective tomorrow," said Poole.

Perque earned her first start in a Memphis uniform against the Bulldogs while Mariah Nichols hurled a complete game against FIU.

Scoring Summary
Memphis 10, Bryant 2
Top 2 – Ashley Threatt led the inning off with single, the first Memphis hit of the season. Three doubles later by Sara Ann Davidson, Baylee Smith, and Gracie Morton in addition to a fielding error by Bryant led to a six-run second inning. (6 runs, 5 hits, 1 error, 1 left on base)
Top 4 – Delaney Smith singled to lead off the top half of the inning and quickly stole second base. Delaney Smith scored on a Baylee Smith infield single to the shortstop. (1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on base)
Top 6 – Just like the fourth inning, Delaney Smith singled and stole second to lead off. A groundout by Baylee Smith advanced Delaney Smith to third and she proceeded to score on a groundout to first by Morton. Back-to-back singles by Threatt and Chesney Dearth put two runners on for Regan Hadley, who drove home both after registering the fourth Memphis double of the day. (3 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base)
Bottom 6 – Bryant drew a lead-off walk and scored two on a home run to left field. (2 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 left on base)

FIU 2, Memphis 1
Bottom 1 – A pair of singles combined with a Memphis error led to the first run of the game. (1 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 left on base)
Top 3 – Samantha Ibison led the inning off with an infield single and advanced to second after the next at bat. A single up the middle by Delaney Smith drove in Ibison. (1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base)
Bottom 3 – FIU led off the inning with a triple to right center and ultimately scored on a groundout to second base. (1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base)

Notables

Ashley Threatt recorded the first hit of the 2019 season. She finished with three hits on the day.
Baylee Smith finished with a career-high four RBIs in the win over Bryant. Smith finished with three hits.
Delaney Smith scored a career-high three runs in the lead-off spot against Bryant. She was one of five players with hits in both games. She also was perfect on the base paths with three steals.
Freshmen Samantha Ibison and Gracie Morton recorded three hits each.
Five players had multiple hits against Bryant.
Memphis hit four doubles against the Bulldogs.
Karli Perque struck out seven in her Memphis debut.
Mariah Nichols allowed one earned run in 6.0 innings pitched against FIU.

Up Next
Memphis competes twice on Saturday, starting with a 1:30 p.m. CT game against Big Ten foe Michigan State. Live stats are available at www.gotigersgo.com. For more information on the Memphis softball team, follow the Tigers on social media at @MemphisSoftball.

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Next Event

Michigan State

L, 6-11

Feb 9 (Sat)

1:30 PM

Box Score Recap Preview Live stats History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Perque, Karli (1-0)

L: NORRIS (0-1)

Memphis

Batting:

2B: Smith, Baylee 1 ; Morton, Gracie 1 ; Hadley, Regan 1 ; Davidson, Sara Ann 1

RBI: Smith, Baylee 4 ; Morton, Gracie 2 ; Hadley, Regan 2 ; Davidson, Sara Ann 2

SH: Ibison, Sam 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Smith, Delaney 3 ; Smith, Baylee 1 ; Threatt, Ashley 1 ; Dearth, Chesney 1 ; Hadley, Regan 1 ; Ibison, Sam 1 ; Davidson, Sara Ann 1 ; Lamb, Jessie 1