Softball wins three of five in Chicago

By Jordan Rinard, Senior Staff Writer

The Miami University softball team had a strong showing in its season opening tournament, as it won three of five games in the Total Control Sports Invitational. The two losses came in the form of a shutout.

The RedHawks (3-2) fell to Samford University 5-0, beat Syracuse University 6-4, downed the University of North Dakota 9-7, were defeated 6-0 by the University of Illinois-Chicago and triumphed over Loyola University (Chicago) 4-3.

"We played really well and did some good things on defense and had some players offensively step up for us with Tiyona Marshall and Tanya Busby and Taylor Shuey getting runners in," head coach Clarisa Crowell said. "We had eight stolen bases this weekend, so we were able to get kids on. Remy Edwards did a great job pitching and did some good things."

Miami began the invite with Samford, who came away with three runs in the third after being held scoreless in the first two innings and added runs in the fourth and sixth. The offense for the 'Hawks didn't do much as it registered three hits in the game. Junior pitcher Amber Logemann had a solid outing with eight hits and two earned runs in five innings of work, but gave up a total of four runs.

It was a different story against Syracuse, as the Red and White took a 6-0 lead in the sixth before stopping a late Orange comeback. Senior center fielder Tiyona Marshall had a team-high three hits in the game. Senior left fielder Bree Lipscomb and first baseman Hailey Reed each had two RBIs. Senior pitcher/utility player Remy Edwards did well in her first collegiate start, as she fanned seven while giving up two earned runs (four total) on five hits.

The RedHawks experienced more offensive success against North Dakota, as they had nine runs off 11 hits as Marshall, Edwards and junior right fielder Taylor Shuey each had two hits. After taking a 9-3 lead after four innings, UND drew within two runs before Logemann stranded two base runners in the seventh to pick up the win.

The offense was unable to follow it up against UIC as it garnered only five hits in the game, two of which came from junior right fielder Tanya Busby. Edwards kept the Flames scoreless through three innings before a two-run single in the fourth, a two-run home run in the fifth and two unearned runs in the sixth put the 'Hawks in a hole.

Against Loyola, Miami was able to manufacture runs as sophomore third baseman Jenna Jones broke the scoreless tie in the second inning. In the sixth, senior catcher Shanyn McIntyre came through with a two-RBI double and sophomore second baseman Eryn McCarver recorded an RBI single. The Ramblers responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning and a solo shot in the seventh, but Edwards shut the door on the comeback with a flyout and a strikeout in relief.

"We need to clean some things up defensively," Crowell said. "We're taking it one game at a time with our pitching staff. Amber and Remy are our go-to pitchers and we're trying to get them in good matchups. Against Loyola, we had a good gameplan with Amber starting and using other pitchers. With Amber coming back from mono, we're taking her out after five innings whether we're winning or losing, and Megan helped us out by playing in four of the five games."