— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall softball went from power surge to power outage.
James Madison, which saw the Thundering Herd smack five homers in a Thursday win, limited the home team to three hits, one a two-run homer by Paige Simpson, and got a key relief effort from Kirsten Fleet to send the Dukes past Marshall, 5-3, Friday to even the Sun Belt Conference series at 1-1.
The loss is just the second at Dot Hicks Field for the Herd, putting that mark now at 15-2. Marshall finds itself in a must-win setting Saturday when the teams meet at noon. The Herd (37-15, 17-6 SBC) is a half-game behind UL Monroe in the Sun Belt standings.
The Warhawks (35-19, 17-5 SBC) had their Friday game against Southern Miss postponed due to weather. Those two will play a doubleheader Saturday.
James Madison is 26-23, including 12-11 in the SBC.
“We took our walks, but didn’t get our hits, and they did have hits,” Marshall coach Morgan Zerkle said. “We made an error and didn’t play our best defense compared to yesterday. That’s what happens and you get beat.”
James Madison scored twice in the top of the first. The Herd got even in the fourth when Simpson connected for a two-run homer, her first of the season. In the fifth,the Dukes collected four hits and scored three times for a 5-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Herd took advantage of three walks by starter Payton List to set up a rally. Fleet, scheduled to start only to see List get the call, came on with the bases loaded, one out and a run in. She got Simpson to ground to third and Kira Ortega fired to home to get the force. She then got Chandler Hopkins on a fly to center to end the inning. She blanked the Herd the final two innings to get her third save and allow List (8-12), who walked six, to record the win.
Zerkle said the pitching change at the start didn’t surprise anyone.
“We prepared all week for all of them,” Zerkle said. “When you have runners on base we talk about different people have do different things. Nothing changes. You have to better when runners are in scoring position. When we got it tied you want to shut the team down the next inning. Things kind of fell apart for us and it’s unfortunate for our pitching and defense to do that. Got to do a better job next time. We’ve got to take care of business and we didn’t do that today. First and foremost we have to focus on us and do what we can to give ourselves a chance.”
Kendra Lewis had two hits and an RBI for the Dukes. Emily LeGrand collected two doubles and two RBI.
In the first, List got a run home on a ground out and LeGrand belted an RBI double to left. In the fifth, Lewis laced double and List collected an RBI single. LeGrand followed with the two-run double to quiet the crowd of 687.
Prior to the game, Herd catcher Abby Darnley received the Emileigh Cooper Warrior Award. It goes to senior who ends her time with the program and best embodies Cooper’s Warrior qualities. Cooper played for the Herd from 2012-2016 before her death.
“I’ve been here the past four years and you don’t know how much of an honor this is,” Darnley said. “I had a little hint when they said four years. I thought no way, this is insane.
Darnley’s brother, Bill, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“Right down the middle. A great pitch,” Darnley said. “It’s the history here,athletics in general.. It starts with the 75 (who died in the Nov. 14,1970 plane crash). There’s Emileigh. We play for her every day. It makes our team playing for something greater than ourselves every day. We’ve got to take care of business.”
Darnley is one of three seniors who’ll be honored prior to Saturday’s game. The other seniors are Paige Maynard and Simpson.