Blue Raiders Draw Split in Final Day of Stanford Tourney

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Middle Tennessee softball (7-17-1) split its games in the final day of the Stanford Invitational. The Blue Raiders fell to host No. 5 Stanford (20-4) 13-1 and defeated Miami of Ohio 7-6 Saturday in the last day of the Stanford Invitational at Smith Family Field.

After scoring only just three runs in its previous three games at the tournament, Middle Tennessee exploded for three runs in the first inning against Miami of Ohio.

Katie Mielke led off the bottom of the first for the Blue Raiders with a single, but she was caught stealing for the first out. Justine Cerda came to bat next and singled to left field and scored off an RBI double by Melissa Weiland who moved to third on a throwing error by Miami. Muriel Ledbetter scored Weiland when she hit a double of her own and moved into scoring position off a wild pitch. Ledbetter scored the third run of the inning when Brandi Boehner singled through the left side.

Middle Tennessee tacked on two runs in the third inning thanks to Miami of Ohio miscues. A pitch with one out hit Weiland and Ledbetter drew a walk. Samantha Floyd reached on a fielding error that allowed Weiland and Ledbetter to score for the two runs in the third inning.

Miami of Ohio got on the board in the fourth inning scoring two runs and scored in subsequent innings adding one run in the fifth and three in the third inning.

The Blue Raiders kept a step ahead of Miami of Ohio by tacking on runs in the bottom of the fourth and the fifth. Mielke accounted for Middle Tennessee's run in the fourth when she hit her first homerun as a Blue Raider. In the fifth it was an RBI single by Mielke that scored Martha Davis.

Laura Moore picked up the win in the game and improves to 5-8 on the season. Moore went 4.8 innings allowing three runs on seven hits and struck out one. Trish White came in for 0.2 innings and struggled allowing three runs on three hits. Sophomore hurler Ashley Katinas notched her first save of the year as she came in for 1.2 innings and allowed just one hit.

Mielke led the Blue Raiders going 3-for-4 with two RBI, a run scored and the homerun.

In the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, against Stanford, junior Trish White assured Middle Tennessee wouldn't be shutout for the second time in the tournament with a homerun. It was White's second homerun of her Blue Raider career.

Freshman Samantha Floyd, who has seen most of her action as an infielder or pinch hitter for the Blue Raiders, got her first start on the mound against the Cardinals. The Rossville, Georgia native went one inning allowing five runs on five hits and struck out one.

Floyd was replaced by fellow freshman Laura Moore in the second inning and she also gave up five runs and allowed seven hits. White came into the game in the fourth inning and closed out the game.

Floyd takes the loss and falls to 0-1. Current Sun Belt Player of the Week Muriel Ledbetter accounted for two of the Blue Raider's four hits as she went 2-for-2 in the game.

The Blue Raiders return home and travel to Starkville, Mississippi to take on Mississippi State on March 16.

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