Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
WILBURTON, Okla. – The second-ranked Murray State Lady Aggies saw a season-opening 20-game win streak snapped in a game one loss but rebounded for a run rule win in the second contest to split a softball twinbill at Eastern Oklahoma State College on Thursday.

Coach Aaron Mullens' club dropped an 8-4 verdict in the first outing before riding a monster seven RBI performance from freshman Brylee Fanning to a 13-3 triumph that bumped their record to 21-1 on the year.

The Lady Aggies return home Sunday at 1 p.m. for the start of a four-game set with Southern Arkansas University Tech that begins conference play.

Eastern set the tone for the opener with three unearned tallies in the second inning, cashing in a Murray State error, two walks and two singles. The Lady Aggies got one back in the third spurred by a Bradi Harman double and another in the fourth stanza on a Haili Igou solo home run.

Three more walks and four hits in the bottom of the fourth led to five more Lady Mountaineer runs that proved too much to overcome.

A Cady Ammons triple and Kaylee Carter homer in the seventh cut the deficit but the rally fell short.

The hosts finished with a 10-6 hit edge as the Murray State bats struggled to get going. Ammons had two of those hits with one apiece from Fanning, Igou, Harman and Carter.

Murray State's pitching yielded an uncharacteristic eight runs on 10 hits and walked six, but one bright spot was Carolyn Overton's two scoreless frames of relief in which she allowed a single hit and struck out one.

Mullens' squad quickly found the offensive wakeup call in the nightcap, pounding out 15 hits, five of which came from Fanning who was virtually on fire out of the leadoff slot. She started the game with a double and eventually came around to score on an Eastern error. Fanning came up again in the second inning and delivered a three-run homer over the leftfield fence that made it a 4-0 cushion.

The Lady Mountaineers narrowed the gap to 4-1 until a five-run fourth inning flurry by the Lady Aggies put things out of reach. Ryann Phillips led off with a double to spark five consecutive Murray State hits, capped by Adison "Bubba" Lee's three-run homer.

Murray State tallied four more in the sixth stanza to help finish it early with the big blow being a Fanning double with the bases loaded that scored all three runs.

Isabella Hardeman got the start in the pitching circle and tossed five solid frames for the victory, yielding two runs (one earned) while scattering four hits and striking out six. Overton fired the final frame to finish things off.

Following Fanning's scorching five for five offensive effort, Murray State got two hits apiece from Igou and Kennedy Lord. Harman, Lee, Ammons, Carter, Phillips and Avery Beauchamp all contributed one hit.