MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Florida Atlantic University softball team won a wild extra-inning game on Sunday at Middle Tennessee. The Owls put up six runs in the top of the ninth inning to take the thrilling, series-clinching victory.
FAU improves to 20-18 overall on the season including 8-4 in Conference USA action. The Owls are one game back of WKU for first place in the east division.
LATE GAME DRAMA
FAU held a 1-0 lead from the first inning until the fifth. Sara Berthiaume, who had a massive game, drove the first run in with an RBI double. That score held up until the fifth, when the Blue Raiders tied it with a solo home run.
In the top of the sixth inning, Myah Murray delivered a clutch solo home run to put FAU back on top, 2-1. Murray skied one to left field that sailed over the fence for her first big fly of the season.
Middle Tennessee put up a rally in the seventh inning and tied the game at 2-2 with a bases loaded hit by pitch. FAU starting pitcher Lynn Gardner buckled down and escaped a jam to force extra innings. The Blue Raiders had the bases loaded with one out, but Gardner forced a ground ball to Murray, who came home to get the lead runner. The next Blue Raider batter drove one into left field, but Berthiaume ran it down for the last out of the inning.
The Blue Raiders had a chance to win in the eighth inning with a base hit to right field. The runner was coming home to score, but Holley Peluso delivered a perfect strike from the outfield to hose down the runner and keep the game tied.
The Owls’ bats came alive with a massive six-run inning in the ninth. Olivia Peterson struck out but reached first on a dropped third strike. Maya Amm drove a double in the gap to push Peterson to third. FAU then reached into its bag of tricks and executed back-to-back suicide squeeze bunts. The first was from Kaitlyn Cunningham, then the second was off the bat of Riley Ennis to make it a 4-2 game.
Berthiaume launched a moonshot three-run home run to blow the game open and give FAU a 7-2 lead. The junior left fielder had a big day, going 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and a career-high four RBI.
Zoey Jones followed Berthiaume and made it back-to-back home runs with another big fly to right field. Jones and Berthiaume are now tied for the team lead with three long balls each. The three home runs are FAU’s single-game high this season.
Ennis, Amm and Peterson all collected two hits for the Owls.
MARSHALL IN TOWN NEXT WEEKEND
FAU will return home for a three-game Conference USA series against Marshall next weekend. The Owls and Thundering Herd’s first game is set for Friday, April 8 at 6 p.m.
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