Corey Lyon and Maddie Holub had some input for Megan Smith Lyon on Friday.
“Our hitting coach [Lyon] and pitching coach [Holub] both came to me this morning,” Smith Lyon, Marshall’s softball coach, said, “and said, ‘We need to move Bri up in the lineup. We think we need to get her more at-bats.’
“And I’m glad I listened to them.”
Godfrey was in the middle of Marshall’s biggest plays, offensively and defensively, on Friday.
The freshman’s bat gave the Thundering Herd the run it needed to lock up an appearance in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game. Her glove added the final punctuation.
Godfrey’s infield single in the bottom of the sixth inning bounced far enough away to score Camryn Michallas from third base. Godfrey then made a fully extended catch on the move for the final out in left field in the top of the seventh as second-seeded Marshall knocked off No. 3 South Alabama 3-2 at Louisiana’s Lamson Park.
“She came through, big-time,” Smith-Lyon said of Godfrey. “Her confidence maybe has been an issue in the past. Not today, and I can’t imagine it will be tomorrow. She came through big for us.”
Godfrey was 3 for 3, with a run and an RBI, for half of Marshall’s six hits.
The Herd extended its single-season record for victories to 45, and now needs one more for an automatic NCAA tournament bid in its first season in the Sun Belt. On Saturday, Marshall will meet the winner of Friday night’s second semifinal between Texas State and host Louisiana in the conference tournament championship game.
Sydney Nester went the distance, allowing two runs on four hits, with two walks and three strikeouts.
Nester finished off the complete game with a 1-2-3 seventh inning. She induced a lazy popup to Herd first baseman Rielly Lucas from South Alabama’s Abby Allen and got a grounder to Lucas off the bat of the Jaguars’ Marley Sims. Nester then battled back from a 3-1 count to force Meredith Keel to line out to an outstretched Godfrey in left field.
Marshall (45-9) got to league Pitcher of the Year Olivia Lacke in the bottom of the third inning when Alex Coleman singled home Godfrey and Autumn Owen’s single knocked in Coleman.
But the Jaguars (39-14) got them back on Gabby Stagner’s two-run shot to center in the top of the fourth. Victoria Ortiz also scored on the round-tripper.
Marshall yielded no more runs after that. South Alabama got its first two runners aboard in the fifth on Allen’s walk and Sims’ single, but Nester rallied to retire the next three Jaguars in order. And she pitched around Odalys Cordova’s two-out two-bagger in the sixth.
“I knew it was gonna be a tough game,” Smith Lyon said. “Two unbelievable pitchers going at it, two really, really strong teams, and that’s a fun game to be a part of, however it ended up.
“I’m super happy that it ended the way it did, but just being a part of that game — tough, hard-fought on both sides — [was good].”
