Eastern Michigan Hands Kent State Its First MAC Loss
4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
KENT, Ohio- Eastern Michigan took full advantage of a pair of Kent State errors in the first three innings and held on for a 7-4 road victory Sunday at the Diamond at Dix. The Eagles jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third and staved off the Golden Flashes' seventh-inning comeback attempt. Both teams moved to 3-1 in conference play as Kent State's four-game winning streak came to an end.
The Eagles scored a pair of runs in the first on a throwing error that sailed into right field. The Flashes cut the lead in half in the second on a bases loaded passed ball.
A pair of walks to start to the top of the third helped produce three more EMU runs. A dropped ball at second base on the next play, gave the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Three batters later, Amanda Herron knocked a two-run double into right center.
Senior Shannon Laughlin (Fairview Park, Ohio) responded with an RBI double down the left field line in the third. Laughlin finished the weekend with an extra-base hit in all four games.
A home run by Herron in the fifth made it 6-2 and the Eagles added a run in the sixth.
The Flashes did not go away quietly in the seventh as junior Lauren Grimes (Tallmadge, Ohio)
doubled down the right field line and sophomore Abbey Ledford (West Liberty, Ohio) drove in a pair of runners with a single up the middle. Ledford finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Sophomore Lauren McNeil (Akron, Ohio), junior Danielle Abernathy (Adairsville, Ga.) and freshman Emma Johnson (Groveport, Ohio) all saw at least two innings in the circle. They combined for eight strikeouts.
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Kent State (16-16, 3-1 MAC) continues its 10-game homestand Wednesday with a doubleheader against Robert Morris, beginning at 3 p.m.
