Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall shortstop runs home during a Big South Conference softball game against Tri-City United, Friday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — After trailing by as many as six runs early, the Marshall softball team rallied to push its Big South Conference matchup against Tri-City United into extra innings on Friday. Yet, the Tigers couldn’t capitalize with bases loaded in the eighth, falling 9-8 in the first game of the doubleheader.

“They have some phenomenal team chemistry, and we definitely played as a team at the end of that game,” Marshall head coach Stacey Baedke said. “We had to use everybody, and everybody did their job. Just moving into this next game, we really need to focus on those little things. And like I told them in the huddle, we’re going to have errors, we just have to reset right away instead of continuing with those errors, and those little things are going to help us.”

The second game of the doubleheader was still in progress at the time of print. A full version of this story will be available online.

Laynee Blaschko led off the eighth for TCU with a triple and scored the game-winning run on a Christina Cruz double before Sara Dallmann struck out two of the next three batters to limit the damage to one run.

Each of the first two Tigers in the bottom of the frame were retired, but Alissa Moen came in as a pinch hitter and hit a clutch single to keep Marshall alive. Dallmann and Bailynn Parsons followed up with another pair of singles into the outfield, loading the bases, but a strikeout left the rally fruitless as TCU hung on for the win.

TCU capitalized on a Marshall error to push across a pair of runs in the sixth, taking an 8-6 lead. Yet, Haylee Kirchner reached on an error and Brynlee Dieken singled to put the tying run on base.

Another single by Jennifer Lee loaded the bases, and Dallmann hit a two-run single with two outs to tie up the game. Parsons was also hit by a pitch to reload the bases, but a strikeout left the winning runs stranded.

A pair of Marshall errors helped the Titans to score three first-inning runs. TCU added another run in the second and two more in the third to take a commanding 6-0 lead, but the Marshall Tigers didn’t hang their heads and accept defeat.

The Tigers started to battle their way back into the game when Dieken singled and Lee walked with one out in the third. A passed ball scored Dieken, Taylor Frana singled in Lee, and Parsons hit an RBI triple to cut the deficit in half.

“I love to see their resiliency. We’ve come such a long way in these last two years with just building that confidence,” Baedke said.

Dallmann and Parsons each finished the game with three hits and a pair of RBIs for the Tigers, and Kinsley Bitker and Dieken contributed another pair of hits each.

With two outs in the fifth, Frana reached base on an error and Dallmann singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Parsons lined a single into center field to push across one run, and Bitker hit a grounder into the gap to push across a pair of runs to tie the game up at 6-all.

Dallmann struck out nine batters with one walk over eight innings in the circle for Marshall. She surrendered six earned runs on 12 hits on the day.

After its second Friday game, Marshall (5-12) closes the season with a pair of road matchups. The Tigers take on New Ulm on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. and Luverne on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE

BATTING

J. Lee: 1-4, BB, 2 R, 3 SO; T. Frana: 1-4, RBI, R; A. Moen: 1-1; S. Dallmann: 3-4, 2 RBI, R; B. Parsons: 3-4 (3B), HBP, 2 RBI, R, SO; K. Bitker: 2-5, RBI, 2 SO; B. Dieken: 2-4, 2 R, SB, SO.

PITCHING

S. Dallmann: L, 8 UP, 12 H, 9 R, 6 ER, BB, 9 SO.