Jessica Beech pitched four perfect innings on the mound and chalked up three strikeouts as the MSU softball team defeated Eastern Michigan, 5-1, on Wednesday.
Sophomore catcher Elizabeth Peterson knocked in two runs for the Spartans in this nonconference game. MSU improves its record to 27-21, while Eastern Michigan drops to 13-26.
MSU head coach Jacquie Joseph said the key to the victory was the Spartans' ability to capitalize on Eastern's mistakes.
"Overall, it was just a great effort," Joseph said.
The Spartans started off the game strong, scoring two runs in the first inning, from Beech and senior first base Nat Furrow, respectively.
"We came out hitting and our pitching was great," Peterson said.
Freshman hurler Christy McGrew, who has struggled this season when facing Big Ten opponents, pitched three innings after relieving Beech and gave up the Eagles' only run of the day.
The score came during the top of the fifth on a hit from Eagles second base Deanna Wisnieski.
McGrew scattered three hits and notched one strikeout.
"I couldn't find the rhythm I had earlier in the conference games," McGrew said. "But our whole team is ready for the Michigan game."
The Spartans were successful limiting the Eagles' hits, allowing just four. Two of the hits came from Wisnieski. MSU also committed just one error in the game, compared to Eastern's three.
Beech has been hot on both offense and defense as of late. She currently leads the team in batting average in Big Ten games (.409). In Wednesday's outing, Beech had one hit and scored two runs. She is tied with freshman first base Dayna Feenstra for on-base percentage (.491), as well. Feenstra also is tied for the conference lead with five doubles.
MSU has just seven outings left on its regular-season schedule before the Big Ten Tournament, held May 13-16.
Up next for the Spartans is a home-and-home series against conference-leading Michigan, held Friday and Saturday. The Spartans head to Ann Arbor at 6 p.m. for the first outing before the series shifts back to East Lansing for a 1 p.m. Saturday game.
