May 1, 2008

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State softball (26-26, 8-10) dropped Thursday's game against Detroit Mercy (11-23), 9-5 in 14 innings at Old College Field; the game is the fifth longest game in MSU history. Shae Bass pitched the entire game for the Spartans, their longest contest since the 1-0, 18-inning loss to Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship on May 8, 2003. Bass set a career high with 11 strikeouts, the most thrown in a single game - and also by a single pitcher - this year. UDM's Kelli Short picked up the win, improving to 6-12 this season.

The second game of the originally scheduled doubleheader was cancelled due to a lack of daylight.

MSU held a 5-1 lead heading into the final inning, but a four-hit, four-run top of the seventh for the Titans evened the score and forced extra innings. After six scoreless frames, Detroit Mercy's bats came alive with back-to-back doubles, and the Titans scored four unanswered runs to claim the come-from-behind win.

Detroit Mercy scored the first run of the marathon game in the second inning, taking advantage of an MSU error to take the early 1-0 lead. But the Spartans responded with four runs at their next at bats. Jessica Bracamonte started the surge for MSU with a leadoff infield single, and Lindsey Hansen moved Bracamonte to second with a fielder's choice to the pitcher; Hansen was also safe on the play. After two outs, Jessica LeFevre's grounder gave shortstop Kristen Sclater trouble, as it bounced past her to shallow center field. Bracamonte and Hansen scored, and LeFevre zipped around the bases to third. Nikki Nicosia drew a walk in the next at-bat, and after she stole second, Kara Weigle singled to center field, driving in LeFevre and Nicosia as Michigan State jumped to a 4-1 lead. None of the runs against MSU or Detroit Mercy were earned in the second inning.

Michigan State tacked on an extra run in the bottom of the fourth, compliments of Nicosia's single to center field. LeFevre was on second after being walked to first and stealing second, and easily scored as the Spartans went ahead 5-1.

But Detroit Mercy quickly erased the lead with four runs in the top of the seventh. With two outs on the board and the bases loaded, the Titans roped out back-to-back base-clearing doubles to tie the game at 5-5. The Spartans were able to halt UDM's momentum and end the inning, but the Titans' similar top of the 14th proved to be too much for MSU to match.

The Spartans close out the regular season on the road at Big Ten rival Northwestern on Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4. Both games are at 2 p.m. ET at Sharon J. Drysdale Field in Evanston, Ill., and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.