Friday
Beshears Grand Slam Propels Spartan Offense in Loss
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Sophomore Britain Beshears provided a late spark in Michigan State softball's 8-6 loss to Illinois on Friday afternoon at Secchia Stadium. Beshears' fifth inning grand slam brought the Spartans back within one run, 7-6, heading into the late stages of the game.MSU moves to 15-27 (2-13 B1G) following a loss, while the Illini improve to 17-25 (4-10 B1G).
Beshears finished the day 2-for-3 at the plate with a career-high tying four RBI. Friday's long ball was Beshears' 12th of the season to move her into a tie for fourth in program history for single season home runs, tying Caitlin Mahoney (12, 2007).
Senior Jenae Wash matched Beshears with a pair of hits, going 2-for-4 with her third home run of the season in the second inning. Sophomore Hannah Hawley reached three times with a sun ball single and two walks. Also with hits for MSU were senior Anna Fox, sophomore Kayla Bane who doubled and senior Alexis Ross. Ross swiped her 17th base of the season.
Junior Madison Taylor (3-11) made the start in the circle for MSU and struck out six in 4.1 innings, allowing five earned runs. Taylor was relieved by senior Ashlyn Roberts and senior Liv Grey. Grey struck out one in 2.1 innings of relief.
Illinois started the night strong taking a quick 4-0 lead over the Spartans with back-to-back two run innings in the first and second frames.
Wash got the Spartans on the board for the first time on Friday with an opposite field solo homer to lead off the bottom of the second inning.
After back-to-back scoreless innings in the circle by Taylor, Illinois tacked on three runs in the fifth to take a 7-1 lead over Michigan State. Stevie Meade's sacrifice fly put the Illini ahead 5-1, but an errant throw brought an additional run around to score. A bases loaded hit by pitch pushed a third run across for Illinois.
Bane led-off the bottom of the fifth with a double down the left field line, but the Spartans faced their final out of the inning with bases loaded. Senior Collette Allen and Hawley walked to put three on for junior Macy Lee. Lee grounded a ball to the left side of the infield, but an error by the Illini shortstop extended the inning and allowed a run to score. With the inning extended, Beshears made the most of the opportunity slugging a ball over the fence in center for her first career grand slam. Beshears' slam cut the Spartan deficit to 7-6 heading into the sixth.
A trio of shallow singles provided Illinois with an insurance run in the seventh, giving the Illini an 8-6 advantage over MSU.
Down to its final opportunities of the night, Michigan State stranded a pair of base runners in each of the last two innings. After a bunt single and steal by Ross in the sixth, Illinois intentionally walked the dangerous hitting Hawley to prevent Ross from scoring on a base hit.
Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
Saturday
Softball Outlasts Late Rally, Defeats Illinois on Alumni Day
EAST LANSING, Mich. – With members of the 2004 B1G Tournament Championship team in attendance, Michigan State softball held on for a 6-5 victory over Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Secchia Stadium.MSU improves to 16-27 (3-13 B1G) with the win while the Illini fall to 17-26 (4-11 B1G). Saturday's win helps the Spartans stay in the fight for a spot in the 2024 B1G Tournament, where 12 of 14 teams in the league qualify. Michigan State (3-13 B1G) is currently battling Iowa (4-10), Illinois (4-11) and Maryland (4-12) for one of the final spots.
Senior Liv Grey (10-11) pitched her seventh complete game of the season allowing two earned runs over seven innings in the circle. After a rocky first inning, Grey settled in to strike out five Illini batters.
The Spartan defense committed five errors while Illinois scattered 10 hits and left 13 runners on base.
Junior Macy Lee led Michigan State with two RBI and was one of six Spartans to record hits on Saturday. Sophomores Sydney Doloszycki and Hannah Hawley provided extra-base hits with Doloszycki tripling and Hawley's smoking her 11th double of the season off the center field fence. Doloszycki's triple was just the second triple of the season for MSU.
Senior Jenae Wash and sophomore Britain Beshears each reached base twice via single and walk, while junior Mik Anthony and Hawley reached three times. Anthony singled and walked twice, while Hawley drew a walk and hit by pitch in addition to her aforementioned double. Sophomore Hailey Bila and senior Alexis Ross stole bases for the Spartans in game two.
Sides traded runs in the first after Illinois started the scoring with a bases loaded walk. Michigan State responded in the home half using a lead-off double by Hawley, a sacrifice bunt by Doloszycki and a Lee sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
With runners on first and third in the second inning, MSU took the lead on a double steal attempt. Though Anthony was caught stealing on the play, Wash sprinted home to give the Spartans a 2-1 advantage.
Back-to-back-to-back two out singles pushed a pair of runs across for Michigan State in the third. Lee got things started with a single just out of reach of the Illini shortstop before Beshears and Wash each drove in one on singles to center.
Illinois cut MSU's lead to one, 4-3, as two runners scored in the fourth. Consecutive singles opened the inning for the Illini before a Spartan error allowed the first runner to score. A single down the left field line helped the ensuing batter drive in Illinois' second run of the frame.
Michigan State got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth when Anthony scored on a Doloszycki fielder's choice. The Spartans scored a much-needed insurance run in the sixth, going ahead 6-3, when Doloszycki scored on a Lee ground out.
Things got dicey for MSU in the seventh when a dropped fly ball and throwing error placed the opposing lead-off batter on third. After an RBI single cut Michigan State's lead of 6-4, a third Spartan error and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third. Illinois traded places on an RBI single to center, once again putting two runners in scoring position with one out.
With the lead cut to just one, 6-5, Grey settled back in for the Spartans inducing a ground out and a pop out to end the game.
Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
Sunday
Softball Drops Series Finale to Illinois
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State softball looked to rally late but came up short on Sunday afternoon, falling 6-3 to Illinois in the series finale at Secchia Stadium.MSU moves to 16-28 (3-14 B1G) while Illinois improves to 18-26 (5-11 B1G).
Senior Liv Grey (10-12) made the start for the Spartans before being relieved by junior Madison Taylor in the first inning. Taylor pitched well in relief allowing just one earned run in seven innings of work, striking out three. It was a bounce-back effort for Taylor who now owns a 3.35 ERA over her last 54.1 innings.
Michigan State's offense was led by sophomore Sydney Doloszycki's 2-for-4 effort. Doloszycki tripled for the second time in as many days and drove in one. Junior Mik Anthony went 2-for-3 with a double.
Sophomore Britain Beshears hit her second home run of the series and her 13th of the season on Sunday. Her solo shot to center moved her into a tie for third in program history for single season home runs alongside Brett Williams (13, 2011) and Stacey Phillips (13, 2000). Beshears also drew a walk to reach base twice in game three.
Senior Alexis Ross and sophomore Hannah Hawley singled for MSU. Hawley reached twice with a single and a hit by pitch.
Illinois scored all the runs it would need in the first putting a five spot on the Spartans. A trio of singles and a walk put the Illini ahead 3-0 before an error prolonged the inning and allowed a fourth runner to cross. Illinois tacked on one more via sac fly to lead 5-0.
Beshears got Michigan State on the board with her solo homer in the second. Doloszycki tripled with one down in the third, but back-to-back Spartan strikeouts ended the scoring threat.
A walk and two singled provided Illinois with an insurance run in the fourth. Senior Jenae Wash prevented an Illini run from scoring in the third with a diving grab in left.
Three straight Spartans singles cut the Fighting Illini lead to three to open the fifth frame. Ross led-off the inning with a bunt single before Hawley singled to right. After Ross and Hawley advanced one base on the throw, Doloszycki drove both in on a single to center. A misplay on the pick-up in center allowed Hawley to score from second on the play.
MSU barreled up several pitches over the final two innings, but none found the outfield grass.
UP NEXT
Michigan State will be back in action next weekend when it hosts Rutgers on April 26-28 for the final B1G home series of the season. Action gets started at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 26. Rutgers took two-of-three from Minnesota this weekend to improve to 29-19 (10-7 B1G).
Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
