Day two of the Miami Invitational pitted the Marshall softball team against Ball State at MU Softball Stadium. The Herd (12-17) dropped a 10-2 contest to the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals (19-11) opened the ballgame with a double off the left field wall by Jenny Gilbert to go up 2-0 in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the frame MU closed the gap to 2-1 after a sacrifice fly to right by Melanie Stoehr scored Ashley Gue, unearned, from second base.
A home run from Amanda Carpenter in the third gave BSU a 5-1 cushion as the bases cleared on the three-run shot. Marshall was forced to call in Rachel Rillo to register the final two outs of the inning as Natalee Pulver left the circle with two strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work.
Ball State then extended its lead in the fourth to seven runs as the Cardinals tallied three on the board off four hits and one MU error to hold an 8-1 lead.
Victoria Marvin added her two cents as the sophomore homered to right center for her second long ball in as many games to give the game a 8-2 score through four innings.
Adding insurance to its lead, BSU tagged an additional two runs in the fifth after Taylor Rager hit a two-run home run giving what would be a 10-2 run rule in five complete innings.
Marshall’s Erika Bennett came in during the fifth to log the final out as Rillo left the game after working 2.1 innings on the rubber and fanning four batters.
Audra Sanders picked up the win for the Cardinals, moving her to 11-6 on the year as Pulver garnered the loss for MU dropping her to 5-8.
Marshall will play Purdue at 11 a.m., followed by a rematch against Ball State at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Fans are able to get up-to-date information through herdzone.com and also by visiting the tournament homepage here.