Feb. 9, 2001

Box Score

Arlington, Texas - After spending last weekend in sunny California to open the 2001 season, the UIC softball team got its first real taste of the great outdoors on Friday as near freezing temperatures and gusting winds met the Flames as they opened play at the UTA/Isuzu Motors Classic in Arlington, Texas.

The elements seemed to take their toll as UIC went 1-2 in pool play on Friday, dropping back-to-back games versus Louisiana-Monroe (3-2) and Oklahoma State (5-0), before rebounding to take out Stephen F. Austin, 5-2. The Flames finished third in Pool C and now advance to Saturday tournament competition. UIC, now 5-4 on the year, will meet the second place finisher in Pool B - Arkansas - tomorrow at 11:15 a.m.

UTA/Isuzu Motors Classic

Game #1 - 9:00 a.m. - Cottonwood Park - Arlington, Texas

Louisiana-Monroe 3, UIC 2

Arlington, Texas - Louisiana-Monroe tallied single runs in the first three innings, then held off a late UIC rally as they handed the Flames their second-straight loss with a 3-2 triumph in the opening game of the UTA/Isuzu Motors Classic.

UIC starter Alycia Creese (2-2) picked up her second loss of the season, allowing six hits in seven innings while fanning two. Indians hurler Annie VanOsbree (1-0) went the distance in her first start of the year, scattering four hits and allowing two earned runs.

The Indians (1-0) got on the board in their first at bat. With a runner on second and two out, UIC second baseman Emily Stoddard and first baseman Shannon Perry collided on a routine infield fly. The ball popped out of Perry's glove and Priscilla Camilang scored to put Monroe up 1-0. In the second inning, with runners on first and third and two outs, the Indians executed a double steal which pushed home a run when the Flames tried to gun down the runner at second. Casey Goodman put ULM up 3-0 in the third with a two-out RBI double.

The Flames didn't threaten until the sixth inning when pinch hitter Melissa Garvey led off the frame with a double. Two batters later senior Stefanie Christoferson extended her hitting streak to six games as she doubled in Garvey to cut the Indians' lead to 3-1. Freshman Jacquelyne Vaca followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to one (3-2), but the rally ended when Vaca was tagged out trying to stretch the single into a double.

UIC went one-two-three in the seventh and fell to 4-3 on the year with the 3-2 loss.

UTA/Isuzu Motors Classic

Game #2 - 11:30 a.m. - Cottonwood Park - Arlington, Texas

Oklahoma State 5, UIC 0

Arlington, Texas - Oklahoma State hurler's Tiffany Paper and Kara Wentworth combined for a one-hitter as the Cowgirls shut down the Flames, 5-0, in second-game action at the UTA/Isuzu Motors Classic.

Senior Molly Freeman tallied UIC's lone hit with a line shot over third base in the sixth inning.

Flames' starter Alison Aguilar (1-2), meanwhile, lasted only one-third of an inning and was lifted after a two-run single off the bat of Angela Veronisi put OSU up 3-0 in the first. Maral Binnebose and Courtney Guthrie, who made her first collegiate appearance, would combine to go the rest of the way for the Flames. UIC didn't give its pitchers must help defensively in the game, though, as they committed five errors in the field.

The Cowgirls, meanwhile, tallied three runs in the first, then went up 5-0 in the fifth on a two-run homer by Jade Lindly. Paper (1-0), who pitched four innings allowing just a walk, earned the win for OSU.

UTA/Isuzu Motors Classic

Game #3 - 3:45 p.m. - Cottonwood Park - Arlington, Texas

UIC 5, Stephen F. Austin 2

Arlington, Texas - UIC snapped its three-game losing streak and finished in third place in Pool C at the UTA/Isuzu Motor Sports Classic with a 5-2 victory over Stephen F. Austin on Friday afternoon.

Clutch two-out hitting was the key to success for the Flames as junior Jennifer Tiffany posted two-out RBI knocks in the second and fourth inning while Vaca and Christoferson each notched two-out RBIs as well in the win.

Junior Rory Gonzales-Gould (1-0) went the distance for UIC to earn her first win of the season.

The Flames went up early, 1-0, on an RBI single by Tiffany in the top of the second inning, but the Lady Jacks surged back in their half of the third, plating a pair of runs to take a 2-1 edge.

UIC got it right back in the fourth as Shannon Perry, who went 2-for-3 in the game, posted her first collegiate RBI to knot the game at 2-2. Two batters later Tiffany struck again, putting the Flames ahead to stay with a two-out RBI single to center.

Vaca and Christoferson (2-for-3, RBI) added insurance runs in the fifth and seventh respectively as UIC improved to 5-4 on the year with the win.