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Softball Foiled By Long Beach State In Extra Innings At Desert Classic
Feb. 20, 2010
BYU Box Score
LAS VEGAS - The UIC softball team rallied from two runs down in the bottom of the seventh against Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon, but were unable to halt the opposition, falling 4-3 in eight innings at the Desert Classic in Las Vegas, hosted by UNLV. The Flames (4-5) fell to BYU, 3-1 earlier in the day. UIC picked up a hit in every inning against the 49ers (4-4), but got on the board when Shannon Kehr hit her third home run of the weekend well over the center field wall with one out in the fourth. Long Beach would retaliate in the fifth when outfielder Nalani St. Germain blasted a solo shot with two outs to tie the game at 1-1. Though UIC had a chance to go ahead in the bottom of the sixth with runners in scoring position, starting pitcher Taylor Petty got out of the inning with a pair of swinging strikes to keep the score level. The 49ers struck again in the seventh with a pair of runs driven in by catcher Brandy Rayes to open the game up to a 3-1 advantage, but the Flames would not go away so easily. With two outs, a hit and a pair of errors would place Brooke Frydendall at third, Ashley Hewett on second and Kehr at first, who reached after being walked. Kelsey Sturgeon, who had two hits earlier in the contest, placed a single perfectly along the left-field line, allowing Frydendall and Hewett to come home to tie things up at three and send the game into extra innings. The international tiebreaker rule was enforced at the beginning of the eighth, which places a runner on second to open the frame. Long Beach took advantage of the automatic runner, loading the bases off a single up the middle and a walk. With nowhere to put another runner, outfielder Sarah Weber was hit by a pitch, scoring a run for the 49ers that the Flames were unable to respond to in the bottom of the inning for the 4-3 final score.
BYU 3, UIC 1 In the first contest of the day, UIC squared off against a very heavy-hitting Cougars squad that jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a pair of hits and a double steal in the opening frame. But Kehr, who only had a pair of home runs as a freshman, knocked out her second home run of the weekend off of starting pitcher Christie Zinanti to level the game at 1-1. BYU was held at bay by stellar defense by infielders Sturgeon and Christie Seddon, but back to back bunts before a deep right field single from outfielder Delaney Willard gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead of which they would not relinquish. Hewett would strike out seven and walk one in the nine-hit outing, while Kehr, Melinda Macias, Melissa Preish and Christie Seddon would walk away with hits against BYU. The Flames close out the weekend against Oregon on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. CST. |
