FEBRUARY 19 COLLEGE SOFTBALL
CATHEDRAL CITY THURSDAY
Truly a classic! Three teams have been rated #1 in the polls --- Alabama, Florida and Arizona State. UCLA, Oklahoma, California and Washington are on the top rungs of the poll ladders. Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Fresno State and Northwestern are top 25. For certain, the games this weekend will change both national rankings.
North Carolina 5, Kansas 3
WP Lisa Norris. LP Sarah Vertelka
The Tar Heels scored three runs in bottom 1st. In the 5th, Alyssa Francona walked, and scored with two out on an rbi by Cali Overbeck. Top 6th, Sara Ramirez walked with one out, Stevie Crisosto drove in a run, Dougie McCauley bunt single; Val Chapple brought home a run on a sac fly, and Elle Pottorf brought in the third Jayhawk run on a bases loaded walk. In the bottom, Brittany McKinney doubled and scored on a sac fly by Norris for the final 5-3 margin. Allie Clark’s attempt to start a two-out KU rally in the 7th was snuffed by an outstanding play by Tar Heel shortstop Christine Knauer who swerved to her right to catch the sinking liner. Other UNC rbi: Breanna Brown; Danielle Spaulding, Anna Roberts. Norris was clocked as high as 66 mph. Kansas is 4-6.
Alabama 6 BYU 0
WP Kelsi Dunne (9 K). LP Christine Zananti. Top-ranked Bama had a 1-0 lead (Brittany Rogers scoring in the 1st) when Zananti threw a pitch which just hung over the plate, and was jacked by Charlotte Morgan for a 2-run homer. For a moment in the 4th, BYU had a shining moment: Angeline Quiocho singled; Jessica Purcell walked; Andrea Ramirez singled, loading the bases, none out. But Coreen Lopez looked at a third strike; Caschjen Davis went down swinging; and Delaney Willard grounded to 2nd. The Tide did not waste a similar opportunity in bottom 5th. Cassandra Reilly-Bocha walked; Morgan and Kelly Montalvo walked; Lauren Parker ripped a single which was misplayed into a 3-run hit and error. Two observations: Dunne challenges batters inside. Davis made the play of the game, going to the fence to take a home run away from Rogers.
North Carolina 3 Oregon 0
WP Danielle Spaulding. LP Sam Skillingstadt. Spaulding had 16 Ks, and was clocked at 65 mph, her top. The Tar Heels scored three runs in the 3rd: Kelli Wheeler, Christine Knauer and Breanna Brown scored, Brown driving in two runs with a triple. Carolina is now 10-2, Oregon 5-6.
Texas 3, Tennessee Tech 2
Texas senior first baseman Desiree Williams connected for her school-record 22nd career home run and sophomore Amy Hooks hammered a seventh-inning walk-off shot to propel the Longhorns to a 3-2 win over Tennessee Tech at the Cathedral City Classic. Williams’ homer pushed the senior past Jody Reeves (1997-2000) in the UT record books after she tied Reeves’ 21 homers last season. Texas’ victory improved the Horns to 6-3 on the year, while Tennessee Tech fell to 5-5. Sophomore righthander Brittany Barnhill (3-1) earned the victory for the Horns, tossing a complete game and allowing just two runs on seven hits. Tech starter Maddi Schmissrauter (3-3) suffered the loss after going 6.1 innings and surrendering three runs on four hits, while striking out six. The Longhorns scored in the third when junior outfielder Brittany Chalk earned a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice to start the frame. Williams followed with her record-breaking home run, launching her first long-ball of the season over the leftfield wall to give UT a 2-1 edge. Tennessee Tech had scored in the top of the third, using a walk, sacrifice and RBI single by Whitney Cummings to take an early 1-0. Lead. The Golden Eagles evened the tally in the fifth when Jordan Leff scored on an inside the park home run. Hooks’ one-out shot to straightaway leftfield broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh, pushing UT to a 3-2 win.
UCSB 4 North Carolina State 3
WP Krista Cobb. LP Mendy McKenzie. UCSB built a 4-0 lead in the first two innings, then held on, as the Wolfpack notched two runs in the 3rd and scored a singleton in the 6th. Santa Barbara’s early lead was fueled by a two-run home run by Tiffany Wright. The NCS comeback included a solo home run by Claudia Cooper. State stranded six runners. State hurt itself with three errors.
Florida 8, Fresno State 0 (5)
WP Stephanie Brombacher (3H) LP Morgan Melloh. The hard-hitting Gators took a 2-0 lead in the top 1st on a 2-run home run by Francesca Enea. The Gators added a run in the 3rd on an rbi by Kim Waleszonia, then poured on five runs in the 5th for the run-rule. After a strikeout, Enea walked; another strikeout; Kelsey Bruder singlede; Corrie Brooks doubled in two runs when her high fly was lost in the sun; Kristine Priebe walked; an Megan Bush delivered the final blow, a three-run home run.
Oregon State 4 Tennessee Tech 1
WP Kelly Dyer. LP Holly Thomas. Stefanie Ewing, DeAnn Young, Alana Ford, and Ashley Sanchez had rbi hits for the Beavers. Whitney Cummings drove in Lacie Coquerille in the 6th for the lone Tech run. Oregon State improved to 6-4; Tech is 5-6.
Maryland 7 UCSB 0
WP Kerry Hickey. LP MeLinda Matsumoto. The Terps led 3-2 after one inning. Hickey and Lydia Fowler had solo home runs, Fowler a two-run shot. Devon Williams had 3 rbi. Jessica Beristianos drove in all three UCSB runs with one hit.
CS Fullerton 9 NC State 6
One out away from getting pushed into extra innings,
Fullerton’s Trina Harrison hit a three-run walk off home run to down NC State,
9-6, her first career hit. The Titans got two runs in the bottom of the first,
one courtesy of a Torrie Anderson RBI single and the other via a wild pitch. A
timely piece of hitting by Bechtholdt in the top of the third knotted the score
at 2-all. Katie Mansilla walked and stole second, then moved to third on a
Bridget Desbois grounder. Claudia Cooper then drew a walk, and Krystal Hawkins
came on to run in her place. Hawkins immediately swiped second before Bechtholdt
laced a clutch two-out single up the middle, bringing Mansilla and Hawkins both
around.
In the top of the fourth, State picked up three runs on one hit. Jacobellis
reached on an error and Lauren Peters followed with a walk. A pitch then hit
Ishibashi for the second
time in the game, loading the bases. Alyssa Allbritten followed with a walk to
bring in a run, and a Desbois single to right made it 4-2 Wolfpack. Another free
pass with the bases loaded, this time to Bechtholdt, pushed the lead to 5-2.
Jacobellis made it 6-2, belting her first career home run to right center in the
top of the fifth. Fullerton countered with three runs, two unearned, in the
bottom of the fifth. Shelia Holguin nailed a leadoff double to left, later
scoring when Francesca Gonzales singled through the left side. A two-out error
at short, however, led to two runners reaching base that would both score when
K.C. Craddick singled down the left field line. Errors plagued the Pack again
and allowed the Titans to tie the score at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth.
Holguin singled to center and advanced on a groundout before moving to third on
a Gonzales base hit into left. But Gonzales’ knock was misplayed, allowing
Holguin to score unearned. Everything came to an end in the bottom of the
seventh when Harrison ended the game with one swing, crushing a three-run home
run to hand the Titans a 9-6 victory. Kristine Bechtholdt went 1-for-3 with
three RBIs to lead the Wolfpack offense, while Eliza Jacobellis punched her
first career home run. Lindsay Campana fell to 1-2 with the loss, while Ari
Cervantes (1-1) picked up the win. State moves to 2-3 with the loss, while CSF
climbs to 4-3.
Alabama 5 Oregon 0
WP Charlotte Morgan. LP Melissa Rice who started and gave up the first two Bama runs in the top 2nd. The Tide scored its other three runs in the top 6th. Rbi hits included Kelley Montalvo, Whitney Larsen (2) and Ashley Holcombe (2). The final three runs were charged to Brittany Rumfelt. Mikayla Endicott pitched the last 1-plus Ducks innings. Cortney Kivett broke up Morgan’s potential first career no-hitter in the sixth inning with a comeback shot up the middle that the pitcher deflected with her glove. In the seventh, freshman Kelsey Chambers singled to deep shortstop for UO’s second and final hit. Alabama improved to 10-0; Oregon fell to 5-7.
Oregon State 4 Kansas 1
WP Paige Hall. Sv Kelly Dyer. LP Val George. Each team had seven hits but the Beavers packaged theirs, including a three-run fourth inning. The teams traded solo runs in the 5th. Audrey Roderfeld (2-2) had a solo shot. Stefanie Ewing, Tarah Black (2-3 with a double) and Ashley Sanchez had rbi. Dougie McCauley drove in Liz Kocon with the Jayhawks run. Oregon State 7-4, Kansas 4-7.
Loyola Marymount 8 Ole Miss 6
WP Corie Goodman (in relief) LP Becky Nye (in relief).
Starters were Melissa
Dykema, LMU, and Lindsey Perry. Ole Miss took a 3-2 lead in top 4th
and pushed that to 6-2 top 5th, but, in the bottom half, LMU scored
six runs, all against Nye. Ole Miss rbi: Corrine Doornberg, Molly Goza, Cali
Overbeck (2-4), Aly Presswood (2-3), and Alyssa McGovern, 2 rbi on 2-4 hitting.
LMU had four rbi: Chelsie Tysdal, Kelly Sarginson, MiaSarah Cesena, and JJ
Hartung. LMU 7-4; Ole Miss 6-4.
Hawaii vs Maryland
Tennessee 5 Loyola Marymount 0
WP Cat Hosfield. LP Corie Goodman. Lady Vol freshmen Jessica Spigner and Shelby Burchell each delivered solo homers to support a one-hit, complete-game shutout from fellow rookie Cat Hosfield as No. 9 Tennessee (10-1) defeated Loyola Marymount, 5-0. Hosfield improved to 7-1 on the season by striking out eight Lion batters, including four in a row at one point, while allowing only a single and walking none over seven innings, facing . just one batter over the seven frame minimum of 21. Offensively, in addition to Spigner and Burchell’s power contribution, senior left fielder Lillian Hammond and freshman shortstop Ashley Andrews (one steal) each tallied a 2-for-3 day at the plate, while the former swiped three of Tennessee’s five total bases. Following a one-two-three top of the first for Tennessee’s Hosfield, the Big Orange jumped in front in the bottom half with the help of three Loyola Marymount defensive miscues. With one retired in the first, Hammond was struck by the first pitch she saw from Lion hurler Corie Goodman. Following a Hammond steal, junior first baseman Tiffany Huff laced a ground ball to short that LMU’s Megan Ackerman corralled. Her throw to first was in time but dropped at the bag by Kelly Sarginson for an error as Hammond raced to third. With Spigner standing in the box, Huff took off for second attempting to pull off the delayed double steal with Hammond racing to the plate. The throw from the catcher to second was cut off. Amy Charpentier’s throw to the plate was just late allowing the runner to score via a collision and Huff to advance to third as the ball escaped to the backstop. Following a pop-up on the infield, Webb bounced to short but again the toss to first was dropped by Sarginson for her second miscue of the frame as Huff scored for a 2-0 lead. LMU got its lone base runner leading off the top of the second as designated player Chelsea Tysdal singled to center field. UT’s 5-9 right hander responded by dealing with a successful sacrifice bunt that advanced the runner into scoring position and then inducing a fly to center from Sarginson and a ground out to third from Charpentier. The Big Orange added to its scoreboard advantage in the bottom of the third. Hammond opened the frame with a single to short and promptly swiped second. Huff reached on a fielding error on the second baseman allowing the runner to improve to third with no one retired. Junior Nicole Kajitani was inserted into the line-up to pinch run for Huff and took off for second as UT attempted another double steal. She was gunned down at second on a strong throw from LMU catcher Darcy Pagnini, but Hammond raced across the dish with Tennessee’s third tally. In the sixth the Lady Vols flexed their muscle with the long ball. Spigner opened the frame with a towering solo homer to left, her team-best fourth of the season. Burchell followed one out later with a bomb to right center as the Big Orange moved in front by a 5-0 count. From there Hosfield roared through Loyola Marymount’s line-up one-two-three in the top of the seventh as third baseman Sam Fischer struck out and both Pagnini and Tysdal grounded to short, completing UT’s 10th win of 2009.
Florida 8 Arizona State 2
WP Stacey Nelson. LP Megan Elliott. The late-night game pitted the defending national champion against a formidable contender. The game started auspiciously for the Sun Devils, loading the bases in the 1st, and scoring the first run when Katelyn Boyd drove in Jessica Mapes. ASU would get two doubles from Kaitlin Cochran; the very speedy Cochran, selected first in last week’s NPF draft, was out in the 5th trying to stretch a triple. Through four innings, Elliott gave up three singles and two walks. Then, in the 5th, the very hard-hitting Gators erupted for eight runs. Megan Bush led off the at-bat with a solo home run. Kristina Hilberth doubled. Elliott retired the next two batters on grounders, but Ali Gardiner kept the rally alive with a single. Francesca Enea walked. Corrie Brooks singled in two runs. Kelsey Bruder walked. Kristine Priebe was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. ASU relieved, putting Megan Ellsworth in the circle. Bush slammed her first pitch for a grand slam home run. Hilberth followed with a single but ASU finally got the third out. The Sun Devils managed another run, but they were not going to overcome the Florida hitting or their own errors. The rest of the game was uneventful, but the point had been made. The 10-1 Gators are contenders.
NFCA SCOREBOARD
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