The MSU softball team took on Eastern Michigan Tuesday in its last home game of the regular season.
A dominant second inning performance by the Spartans helped MSU trounce the Eagles, 13-2, in five innings.
MSU softball blows out Eastern Michigan, 13-2
Sophomore utility player Kaitlyn Eveland (8) swings the bat during the game against University of Michigan on April 18, 2017 Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex in Ann Arbor. The Spartans were defeated by the Wolverines, 3-1.
—With the win, MSU closes out its regular season at home with an 8-1 record after severe flooding at Secchia Stadium forced the Spartans to move some of their home games.
The Spartans were hot at the plate to begin the game as MSU scored one run in the first and then registered nine runs in the second to take an early 10-0 lead.
Junior outfielder and leadoff batter Lea Foerster recorded three runs and two hits in the Spartans’ rout of Eastern Michigan.
Senior first baseman Sarah Gutknecht documented a run and a hit in her last home game at MSU.
Freshman pitcher Jordan Watson came in as relief and pitched a scoreless 2.2 innings to record her eighth win of the season.
The starter at the mound for MSU, Bridgette Rainey, started the game for the Spartans by forcing the Eagles to go three up, three down.
In the bottom of the first, Foerster led off for the Spartans and was walked by EMU’s Nicolle Miranda.
Two batters later, sophomore Ebonee Echols slammed a RBI double as Foerster scored the first run of the game, taking a 1-0 lead entering the second.
The Spartans then extended their lead in the second.
After freshman Melanie Baccay was hit by a pitch, Foerster — facing a 1-1 count — hammered a ball over the centerfield wall for a two-run home run.
The Spartans’ next batter, Echols, logged another RBI with a single to right center, which set up a run scored by McKenzie Long, who finished the day with two runs and two hits, to take a 4-0 lead.
Gutknecht then proceeded to drill a double to left center, sending Kaitlyn Eveland and Echols home to extend the lead to six.
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But the Eagles never stopped the bleeding.
Gutknecht, Carrasco and Zackrison each scored a run in the third as the Spartans took a 10-0 lead after the second.
The Eagles got their first run of the game in the third.
After stealing third, outfielder Lucy Lopez scored an unearned run off a Spartan error.
Michelle Kriegshauser then scored the Eagles’ second run of the game off a flyout to right field by catcher Taylor Wagner, but EMU still trailed 10-2.
The Spartans would go on to score three runs in the fourth and secured the win to improve their record to 25-18.
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The Spartans will play four more games this week as they will go on the road to face Central Michigan on Wednesday before heading to New Jersey for a three-game series with Rutgers beginning on Friday.
