HUNTINGTON, W. Va. –
Mikayla Rubin registered three hits and three RBI to send the Fairfield University softball team past Western Carolina University by a 4-3 score in the opening game of the Thundering Herd March Madness Tournament. The Stags dropped the second game of the day by an 8-0 count to host Marshall University.
After playing three scoreless innings behind the pitching of sophomore Alli Bridgman, Fairfield found its stroke in the batter's box by posting three runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Drew Westford brought home the game's first run with a base hit to right-center field, bringing home
Haley Updegraff. Updegraff started the rally with a one-out double to put herself in scoring position.
Rubin came to the plate with two runners in scoring position, placed on the base paths by Westford's single and botched sacrifice bunt put down by
Charli Warren. The infielder laced a double to right-center field to bring the score to 3-0. Western Carolina tied the game in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of its own highlighted by Bailey Huneycutt's leadoff home run.
The game remained knotted at 3-3 until Rubin stepped back to the plate in the top of the seventh inning and drove a pitch over the center field fence to push the Stags back in front by a 4-3 count. After Western Carolina earned a base runner when the leadoff batter was hit by a pitch, Head Coach
Julie Brzezinski turned to
Bailey Taylor who struck out two batters and recorded the final three outs for a save.
Fairfield did not fare as well in the second game of the tournament, falling to Marshall in six innings. The Stags managed just two base runners, going down in order for four of the six innings played.
Megan Forbes accounted for the first Fairfield base runner, drawing a leadoff walk in the second inning before the next three teammates were retired. Morgan Sylvestra added a single in the sixth inning to account for the team's only hit of the game.
Marshall scored one run through the first three innings before putting three straight multiple-run innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to account for seven of the team's eight runs.
The Stags will return to the diamond on Saturday for one game, a neutral site contest with Norfolk State University with first pitch slated for 3 pm. The tournament concludes on Sunday as Fairfield will meet Western Carolina at 11 am before finishing the three-day event with Marshall for a 3 pm first pitch.
