March 25, 2012

Box Score

The Missouri State softball team (13-10, 3-3) fell behind and was unable to come back in a 3-1 loss at Evansville (8-18, 1-5) on Sunday at Cooper Stadium in Evansville, Ind. The loss is the Bears' first against Evansville in the last nine games.

"Sometimes the breaks don't go your way," said head coach Holly Hesse. "We hit the ball hard, put the ball in play, but it seemed to always be right at somebody. They have the leading hitter in the league in Fortner and to not allow her a single RBI in the series was a great job by Nat(alie)."

Kirstin Cutter led the MSU offense with a 2-for-4 day. Stevie Pierce and Heather Duckworth scored a run and drove in a run, respectively, to account for the Bears scoring.

Natalie Rose threw her 10th complete game of the season. She struck out three UE hitters while not allowing a single walk. Rose drops to 9-3 on the season.

Evansville took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff single and a throwing error allowed the first run to score. A sacrifice bunt and another single plated the second run of the inning for UE and gave the Aces a 2-0 advantage after the first frame.

In the top of the second, Stevie Pierce roped a double off the right-centerfield wall to start a two-out rally. The next hitter, Heather Duckworth, laced a single to left field and Pierce scored all the way from second base.

Missouri State was able to get runners on base in each of the next five innings. In the third, a pair of infield hits by Raeven Replogle and Kirstin Cutter gave the Bears two aboard with one out. But a UE defensive double play ended the inning. In the fourth, the Bears again got two on base with one out, but a pair of fly-outs ended the rally. Cutter got a two-out single in the fifth and Pierce got aboard on a UE error in the sixth. Kerri Cunningham led off the seventh and reached on a fielding error, but was stranded at second when the game ended.

Missouri State will return to Killian Stadium for a doubleheader versus Big 12 opponent Kansas on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. The Bears will then hit the road again with a trip to Drake next weekend (March 31 and April 1) and another visit to UMKC on Tuesday, April 3.