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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State softball team went undefeated in the Georgia Tech-Kennesaw State Invitational this weekend after the Owls wrapped up the tournament with a 6-5 win over Eastern Michigan on Sunday at Bailey Park.
KSU improves to 5-0 this season, while the Eagles fall to 2-3.
“Obviously we are off to a good start from a win-loss situation,” head coach
Scott Whitlock said. “To be 5-0, you cannot beat that. What I am happiest about is the way they came out and performed. They tried and played very hard. We have got to learn to finish and to stay stronger longer in games, but we were able to get just about everybody we wanted in to get some work this weekend. We are a good team, but we also know that we have a lot of areas that we need to improve.”
After Eastern Michigan rallied in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 5-5, junior catcher
Angie Dascoli (West Melbourne, Fla./State College of Florida) singled to left field to drive home senior right fielder
Jensen Hackett (Tunnel Hill, Ga./Ringgold HS) from third base with the winning run that gave they Owls their second walk-off win of the season..
Kennesaw State started the game by scoring three runs in the opening inning, highlighted by a pair of hits from junior centerfielder
Sara Sikes (Douglasville, Ga/Georgia) and freshman first baseman
Caitlin Fowler (Flowery Branch, Ga./Flowery Branch HS) and an Eagle error.
Eastern Michigan knotted the score at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the second inning and a single run in the third,. The Owls recaptured the lead in at 4-3 in the bottom half the third on an RBI double down the left field line by freshman left fielder
Alexis Collis (Blue Ridge, Ga./Fannin County HS)
Kennesaw State increased its to 5-3 in the fifth before the Eagles took advantage of a hit and Owl miscues to even the score at 5-5 in the top of the seventh. Hackett led off the bottom of the inning with a double to left center and moved to third on a Sikes ground ball and scored the winning run three batters later on Dascoli's first hit of the afternoon.
Kennesaw State posted 10 hits to the Eagles’ eight, with EMU totaling three errors and Kennesaw State making one error. Freshman third baseman
Missy Perkowski (Woodstock, Ga./Sequoyah HS) went 3-for-4 for the Owls, while Sikes tallied two hits and Dascoli registered a pair of RBI.
Junior
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) earned her third win of the season after pitching three innings and striking out five. Sophomore
Monica Vickery (Rossville, Ga./Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe HS) started her first game of the season and was relieved in the third inning by freshman
Morgan Sikes (Douglasville, Ga./Chapel Hill HS). It was Sikes’ first career action as an Owl.
Katy Balharski went 3-for-3 for EMU, while Jenn Lucas posted two RBI.
Kennesaw State next hosts the KSU Classic Feb. 16-17 at the Twin Creeks Park in Woodstock, Ga. The Owls open the tournament against SIU Edwardsville beginning at 1 p.m. (ET).
Keep up with Owls softball this year by following KSU on Twitter at @
KSUOwlNation and @
KSUOwlsSoftball, or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on
Facebook.
Kennesaw State is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
