#14 Dukes Sweep #17 Missouri and Charleston Southern on Opening Day

Friday, February 10

Charleston, S.C.

10 a.m.

James Madison University

1-0

#17/19 Missouri

0-1

Missouri

James Madison

#14 Dukes Sweep #17 Missouri and Charleston Southern on Opening Day

2/10/2017 12:38:00 PM | Softball

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CHARLESTON, S.C. – Behind two impressive pitching performances by junior Megan Good and freshman Odicci Alexander, No. 14/16 James Madison softball (2-0) shut out #17/10 Missouri 6-0 before topping Charleston Southern 13-3 to sweep its opening day slate at the CSU Softball Complex on Friday.

In the season opener, Good held Missouri (0-1) to just two hits while striking out 10 Tigers in the complete-game shutout. The junior was efficient in the circle issuing just one walk compared to her 10 strikeouts. In her first career start, Alexander struck out her first seven batters faced, capping her first career win with eight strikeouts with while issuing just one walk and allowing three runs as the Dukes topped Charleston Southern (2-2) 13-3.

Senior Niki Prince led James Madison at the plate going 5-for-8 with four extra-base hits over Friday's slate. The shortstop drove home four RBIs on three doubles, one home run and a single. Senior Taylor Newton also picked up four RBIs off three hits including a three-run homer against Missouri. The Dukes closed Friday outhitting opponents 25 to seven while stealing a program-record nine bases against Charleston Southern.

Against Charleston Southern, the Dukes struck first with Newton's RBI triple in the first inning before capitalizing off three errors and Good's two-run homer in the third inning to push the Dukes lead to 5-0.

CSU was able to pick up two runs off three doubles in the bottom of the third, but the Dukes outscored the Buccaneers 8-1 over the final four innings with help of a 3-RBI home run from Prince in the top of the seventh.

In the season opener against Missouri, the Dukes led off the bottom of the third with back-to-back singles from Prince and Moran. After freshman Kate Gordon reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out, junior Morgan Tolle plated the first run of the season on a fielder's choice to short. Good added a second run on a two-out single through the right side to put JMU up 2-0.

James Madison opened up the game in the bottom of the fifth as Moran led off with a double to right field before scoring on a Missouri error committed while fielding Gordon's single to left. With two out, Missouri issued an intentional walk to Good to put two runners on the bases before Newton capitalized with the first JMU home run of the season to give the Dukes the decisive 6-0 advantage.

QUOTING COACH DEAN
"Looking at both games, I thought we did a great job in the circle except for two innings. I thought we did a great job with our at bats except for two innings, and they were both in the second game. We score a bunch of runs in that second game and got a little outside of ourselves for a couple innings. The team did a nice job of bringing it back and re-gathering themselves to refocus and take a deep breath to finish the game."

WHEELIN' AND DEALIN'
JMU set a program record with nine stolen bases against Charleston Southern on Friday. The previous record of seven was hit multiple times the last coming at UNCW on April 7, 2013. Freshman Madison Naujokas stole three bases against the Buccaneers which ties six other Dukes for the second-most in a single game.

FRESHMEN SPOTLIGHT
Several freshman made major impacts over opening day for the Dukes including Odicci Alexander picking up her first career victory after striking out the first seven batters she faced. Raine Wilson and Natalie Cutright picked up RBIs during pinch-hit appearances against Charleston Southern. Cambry Arnold and Madison Naujokas notched two hits over Friday with Naujokas adding two RBIs while Kate Gordon scored two runs and added a strong defensive performance behind the plate against the Tigers.

NEWTON GOES DEEP
Senior Taylor Newton picked up where she left off last season as the RBI machine for James Madison. With her first home run of the season, Newton now has 27 in her career to rank fourth all-time in program history. The outfielder also ranks third in career RBIs with 135. Newton moves to sixth all-time in career total bases with 282 after Friday's 6-0 victory over Missouri.

TWEET OF THE GAME

With today's season-opening victory against #17 Missouri, the Dukes make a little history with the program's 500th win! #GoDukes pic.twitter.com/j5D0cQltK0
— JMU Softball (@JMU_Softball) February 10, 2017

500 FOR THE DUKES
With Friday's victory of #17/19 Missouri, James Madison made some history with the program's 500th victory since its inaugural season in 2002. Head Coach Mickey Dean has earned 185 victories while at the helm of the Dukes. The victory was also the 14th against a nationally ranked program.

UP NEXT
James Madison will closed the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational on Saturday facing (RV) USC Upstate at 9 a.m. before a rematch with No. 17/19 Missouri at 11 a.m. Both contests will be held at the CSU Softball Complex.