Sophomore hurler Audra Rast recorded her first shutout of the season and led the Illinois State softball team past Oakland University, 4-0, in the Redbirds first day of competition at the Western Kentucky Spring Classic, Friday.
Due to below average temperatures, ISUs (7-6) second game of the day, scheduled for 7 p.m. against Western Kentucky, was rescheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.
Rast pitched a complete game for ISU, striking out eight batters and allowing only four hits. The Redbirds had seven hits in the game while Oakland had three errors that proved costly for the Golden Grizzlies in the end.
The Redbirds got on the board early, when lead-off batter Shae Wesley scored in the bottom of the first after a single and two pass balls advanced her to third. An error on the Oakland secondbasemen drove home Wesley while sophomore Becky McMurtry added another hit for ISU early.
ISU topped off its scoring in the sixth after an error in center field allowed three more runs to cross the plate for the Birds. Sophomore Melissa Baker was 2-of-3 for the day with two RBI in that crucial inning while McMurtry went 2-of-3 also.
Assistant coach
Tina Kramos, filling in for head coach
Melinda Fischer who had a family emergency, said after the game she was proud of her team and thought it was an important point in the game when the Birds scored early.
We think it is always important to score early, Kramos said. It helped set the tone for the rest of the game after we got up 1-0, and for the remaining innings we made necessary adjustments at the plate to score later on.
I felt Audra threw a solid game and our defense was playing tough behind her on the mound, Kramos continued. I just hope tomorrow we can take it one game at a time, with three to play that will be difficult. But we plan on winning every inning and try to win one at a time.
ISU plays Marshall at 1 p.m. while facing Oakland at 5 p.m. and Western Kentucky in the make-up game at 7 p.m. Saturday.
