Feb. 3, 2001

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - The UIC softball team used the three key essentials to victory on Saturday as solid relief pitching, timely hitting and clutch defensive play led to a pair of wins in second-day action at the Long Beach State Invitational.

The Flames opened the day with a 3-2 comeback win over San Diego State, avenging yesterday's extra-inning loss to the Aztecs. UIC then rolled past UC-Riverside, 8-2, to improve to 3-1 on the season.

"Today we were able to utilize our staff in relief and that's not something I've had the luxury to do in year's past," commented UIC Head Coach Mike McGovern. "Also, to come from behind to win both ballgames really shows the heart this team has."

Versus San Diego State, the Flames used a home run by Emily Hallmann to erase an early 2-0 deficit, then used pitching and defense to shut the Aztecs down the rest of the way, ending the game by throwing out the tying run at the plate.

The Aztecs got to UIC starter Maral Binnebose early as freshman Janna Kovensky tabbed two-out RBI singles in both the first and third innings to stake SDSU to an early 2-0 lead. The second single caused McGovern to go to the pen and call upon freshman Alison Aguilar, who was the tough-luck loser of yesterday's tilt with San Diego State.

Aguilar only allowed one hit the rest of the way and in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs and a runner on sophomore Hallmann swung the momentum back in the Flames' favor with a two-run homer to right field to even the score at 2-2.

UIC took the lead an inning later thanks to the legs of Edel Leyden and poor execution by San Diego State. With the bases loaded, one out, and Alycia Creese at the plate, McGovern called for a safety squeeze to try and score the go-ahead run. When the Aztecs pitched out, though, Leyden was caught too far off the bag and drew a snap throw from the catcher back to third. The toss was not fielded cleanly by SDSU and when Leyden saw the third basemen struggle to corral the ball, she raced for home and went in hard forcing the ball free from the catcher to score the Flames' third run.

Aguilar cruised into the top of the seventh with a 3-2 advantage, but a leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt, and a short double into right field put runners on second and third with only one out. Clean-up hitter Tiffany Goudy then lofted a fly ball into right field, which looked to be deep enough for the Aztecs to push home the tying run. Leyden, though, camped underneath the ball and fired a perfect one-hopper to the plate, gunning down the tying run to preserve the 3-2 victory.

Aguilar, who allowed just one hit in 4 1/3 innings of relief work, earned her first collegiate win and evened her record at 1-1 on the season. Leyden (2-for-2, R) and Hallmann (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI) paced UIC at the plate.

The Flames early afternoon tilt with UC-Riverside proved to be similar to their morning affair as the Highlanders jumped on starter Rory Gonzales-Gould in the first inning, plating a run on a double by Karli Burneleit to take a 1-0 lead.

UC-Riverside mounted another charge in the third inning as back-to-back walks by Gonzales-Gould put runners on first and second with nobody out and prompted McGovern to hand the ball over to Creese to try and stem the Highlanders' rally.

Creese quickly got out of the jam thanks to a pair of defensive gems. Freshman second baseman Emily Stoddard turned a hot shot into an unassisted double-play to quickly put two outs on the board, then Leyden, once again, showed off her arm as she rifled down Burneleit, who was trying from second, at the plate on a Riverside single.

In the top of the third, the Flames took control as four hits and a Highlander error turned into three runs for UIC. Leyden (2-for-3, RBI) and Amanda Rivera (3-for-3, HR, RBI) each had RBI singles in the rally. The Flames would score once more in the fifth and sixth innings, then plated three in the seventh on Rivera's first career home run and a two-run single by Jacquelyne Vaca to give UIC its eventual 8-2 margin of victory.

Creese pitched five innings of scoreless relief and improved to 2-0 on the season.

The Flames (3-1) will look to extend their winning streak to three tomorrow morning as they take on UC-Riverside at 9:00 a.m. PST, before their rematch with #22 Long Beach State at 11:00 a.m. PST.