MSU SOFTBALL: Spartans Wrap FAU Invite With 7-2 Win over Columbia
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
A 2-for-3 day by Lea Foerster and a home run by Kassidy Kujawa helped Michigan State to a 7-2 victory over Columbia in the final game of the Florida Atlantic Invitational on Sunday morning.
The Spartans (9-6) finished the tournament 3-2, with both losses to 12-1 Florida Atlantic, which was receiving votes in both national polls last week.
Kujawa followed a Foerster RBI single with her second home run of the season in the fourth inning. Foerster had one RBI, scored twice., and went 2-for-4.McKenzie Longalso had a pair of RBI. Dani Goranson went 4.1 innings as the starter to earn the win, and Zalewski picked up her third save of the season, matching her 2015 total.
The Spartans head to South Carolina next weekend to start spring break, participating in the Gamecock Invitational with South Carolina, Kennesaw State, and Connecticut.
QUOTABLE
I thought we approached today's game much better - in all phases - than we did yesterday. Our bats got going, and both Dani [Goranson] andKristina Zalewski pitched well - it was a 'bend but don't break' kind of game, as we got them to strand 10 runners. It was a good way for us to end the weekend."
- Head Coach Jacquie Joseph
TOP PERFORMERS
Kassidy Kujawa hit her second home run of the season, over the left-field wall in the fifth. She scored twice and had two RBI. Lea Foerster went 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice. McKenzie Long had a two-RBI triple, going 1-for-3 with a stolen base.Jordan Davis had MSU's other extra-base hit, a double, and walked twice. Dani Goranson improved to 3-2 on the season, going 4.1 innings and scattering six hits, allowing two runs and striking out two. Kristina Zalewski earned the save, her third of the year, by tossing 2.2 innings in relief. She allowe two hits, struck out four, and walked one. STATS AND STORYLINES
Columbia jumped out early in the top of the first, as a leadoff single, sac bunt, and pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs. Jordan Townsend followed with a single to left center that plated two runs. Goranson came up with a strikeout to end the inning.
The Spartans countered immediately, as Lea Foerster led off with a single, and McKenzie Long reached on an error by the first baseman on her sac bunt attempt. A sac fly by Celeste Wood brought home Foerster and put Long on third. With two out, Lindsey Besson delivered an RBI single to left, tying the game 2-2.
After a leadoff walk to Jordan Davis in the bottom of the second, the Lions made a pitching change, as Tonia Wu took over in the circle. Starter Tessa Kroll surrendered two hits and two runs, walking one. Wu got a full count on Kassidy Kujawa, who then sent the next pitch over the wall in left for her second round-trripper of the season and a 4-2 Spartan lead. Kujawa's home run was her second of the season and 16th of her career,tying her with Stephanie Sanders for eighth on the all-time MSU list.
In the fourth, Davis whacked a one-out double to center, and Kujawa was intentionally walked. With two outs, Lea Foerster singled to bring home Davis, and Long followed with a triple off the wall in right, plating two more runs for a 7-2 advantage.
Kristina Zalewski relieved Goranson with two on and one out in the fifth. Zalewski stranded both runners she inherited, getting a strikeout looking and a popout.
In the top of the seventh, Zalewski allowed a lone single to Madison Gott, but got the other three batters with strikeouts to end the game. She earned her third save of the season, tying her 2015 total.
