Softball Looks to Capture MAC Regular Season Title

5/5/2005

The East Division Champion Herd hopes to garner its second regular season title in three years this weekend. Photo by Matt Riley

The Marshall softball team has its destiny in its own hands this weekend when it travels to Kent State in the quest for the Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championship and a coveted number one seed in the tournament.

Marshall (33-17, 18-3 MAC) clinched the East Division last weekend when it swept Eastern Michigan at home. A seventh inning comeback supplied by a walk-off, two-RBI single by Rachel Folden (Baldwin Park, Calif.) officially gave the Herd the division title. For her heroics on the week, the freshman was awarded MAC East Player of the Week honors for the second consecutive time and third overall this season. Randi Nielson (Tucson, Ariz.) grabbed the pitching honor for the East with a 3-1 record, including three MAC wins over EMU (2) and Ball State.

Folden continues her havoc at bat, boasting a .421 batting average, 50 RBI, 64 hits, 18 doubles and eight home runs. The rookie is tops in the league in all of the above, besides home runs and hits in which she sits at number two. Folden’s batting average is the 18th best in the country while her doubles per game tally is ranked tenth. Also providing punch for the league’s top offense is junior Amanda Williams (Powder Springs, Ga.). The leadoff centerfielder is batting .363 with a MAC-best 40 runs.

As a team, MU is 50th in the nation in win-loss percentage, 19th in doubles per game (1.46) and 26th in stolen bases per contest (1.58) as well as leading the MAC in batting and slugging percentage, runs, RBI, doubles, home runs, stolen bases, opposing batting average and wins.

Kent State (21-23, 9-9 MAC) is led by Jodi Stevens at the plate and Brittney Robinson on the mound. Stevens is batting .302 on the year with 35 hits, 11 runs and 10 RBI. In the circle, Robinson boasts a 2.19 ERA to coincide with a 9-12 record. She is holding the opposition to a .250 average at the plate while the Flashes pitching staff as a whole has a 2.46 ERA. KSU won the MAC East Division last season before bowing out in the conference tournament.

Bowling Green, a team that dropped Marshall earlier this season in non-conference action, will travel to Central Michigan this weekend for a three-game series. Marshall will capture the regular season title if it can take two of three against the Golden Flashes this weekend. If CMU and Marshall would end up tied, Marshall would likely own the tie-breaker due to a higher winning percentage against potential third place finishers Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan.

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