Feb. 12, 2016 Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Missouri State softball team (1-0) piled on six runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back in a 9-4 season-opening win over Texas Southern (0-2) at the UT Arlington Invitational on Friday morning. Sophomore Kaitlin Beason went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a career-high four runs batted in.
"We talk about starting strong and we put up eight runs in the first three innings," said head coach Holly Hesse. "That's exciting when you have that kind of offense and it helps the pitchers settle in. I thought we were really solid all around today."
Junior pitcher Erin Struemph opened the season with a complete game effort and struck out six in the win.
Senior Erin Duewel drew a pair of walks and scored twice. Freshman Hannah Heinrichs went 2-for-3 with a double and a single in her first two at-bats as a Bear.
The Bears jumped on top in the first inning. Three straight walks chased the TSU starter. Bethany Sullinger poked the second pitch to center field to plate the first run of the season. Two batters later, Beason singled to center to push home two more runs. After a single by Braxton Coil, freshman Heinrichs doubled over the right fielder to drive home the fourth run of the inning. A throwing error by the Tigers' pitcher allowed two more runs to cross the plate as MSU sent 10 batters to the plate and led 6-0.
Texas Southern was able to push home a pair of runs in the second inning despite not hitting a ball out of the infield in the inning.
The MSU third inning began with Duewel drawing a walk. Beason followed with an RBI double to left-center. She scored on the next play, another a Texas Southern error, and the Bears pushed the lead to 8-2.
In the bottom of the third, the Tigers got two runs back on a two-run home run to right field.
Duewel drew a two-out walk in the top of the seventh. She scored from first on a double by Beason to increase the lead to 9-4.
Missouri State will be back on the field to take on Detroit (0-0) at 2:00 p.m. later today. MSU plays Northern Colorado (0-0) and host UT Arlington (1-0) and 4:30 and 6:30 p.m., respectively, on Saturday before concluding the weekend at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday against Northern Colorado.
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