TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University softball team celebrated senior day in grand fashion, setting a pair of school records and routing Drexel, 8-0, in six innings at the Tiger Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon.

Senior Missy McCormick allowed just four hits and no runs while pitching her seventh complete game shutout of the season, tying a single-season Towson record. McCormick struck out six and walked just one while improving to 16-6 on the year.

A pair of freshmen blasted home runs to pace the Tigers offense, which has hit a school-record 45 home runs this season. Freshman Shelby Stracher hit a three-run homer in the fourth to tie the school record and then freshman Daria Edwards hit a grand slam in the sixth for the record breaking homer.

The win moves Towson to 31-19 overall and 8-10 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The 31 wins are Towson's most since the Tigers won 33 games in 2010. After losing two of three to Towson, Drexel falls to 18-21 overall and 6-11 in league play.

The Tigers continued their trend of grabbing early leads, scoring three runs in the fourth inning. After McCormick and sophomore Holiday Cahill hit back-to-back singles with one out, Stracher took Drexel starter Taylor Lee deep for her eighth home run of the season to give Towson a 3-0 lead.

Drexel immediately threatened to get back into the game in the top of the fifth. Leticia Matsuoka led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a Gabriela Kuroda double. McCormick got out of the jam though without allowing a run. The senior struck out the next two batters and then got Baeley Reed to pop out to third base to end the threat.

Towson ended the game in the sixth with a five-run inning. After Edwards' grand slam, her fourth homer of the year, junior Courtney Johnson walked and junior Olivia Yarbrough singled to put two Tigers on. Two batters later, McCormick capped her senior day performance with a game-clinching RBI single to left that drove in Yarbrough.

Cahill finished the day going 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored, while Stracher also went 2-for-2 with a run scored and three RBIs. McCormick and Edwards also finished with two hits.

Senior Macie McGeehan had a single to left in her only at-bat of the game, before exiting the game for a pinch runner and a standing ovation on senior day.  

The Tigers will play their final two home games of the year on Wednesday when they host Mount St. Mary's for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.


-TowsonTigers.com-