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2004 NCAA Softball Regional Second Round
May 21, 2004
Northwestern Knocks Off South Carolina, 5-3 TUCSON, Ariz. - Staring elimination at the hands of fourth-seeded South Carolina in the face, Northwestern mounted a seventh-inning comeback before walking off in the eighth frame with a 5-3 victory. Northwestern moves on to face No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette, the fifth seed in the Arizona Regional, at 4 p.m. CDT Saturday. The game will be televised live on CSTV. With the Wildcats trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, senior Eryn Manahan led off with a single to shortstop and scored on a Jamie Dotson double to cut the lead to 3-2. Ashley Crane replaced Dotson on the basepaths. Senior J.C. Kira then drilled a liner, but it was right at the Gamecocks' second baseman for the inning's first out. After Jessica Miller drew a walk, both runners advanced on a throwing error by the South Carolina catcher. Senior Carri Leto -- riding a 17-game hitting streak and currently 0-3 in the game -- then stepped to the plate with two outs and served a game-tying single into left field with a two-strike count. With the score knotted at 3-3, pitcher Eileen Canney held South Carolina without a base runner in the top of the eighth inning. Canney pitched six shutout innings in relief of NU starter Courtnay Foster, allowing only three hits and striking out five to up her record to 19-4. Freshman Garland Cooper led off the bottom of the eighth with a sharp single to right field, bringing sophomore Kristen Amegin to the plate. Against Minnesota last weekend in the Big Ten Tournament, Amegin hit a game-winning, walk-off home run in extra innings for Northwestern. She would do it again versus South Carolina, blasting a mammoth shot deep into the night over the center field fence to give NU the 5-3 victory.
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Michigan State Unloads on UMASS, 13-5 ATHENS, Ga. - Dayna Feenstra was 3-for-3 with two RBI and every Spartan batter posted a hit as Michigan State (35-26) defeated Massachusetts (34-16), 13-5 in six innings, in the Spartans' second game of the day in the NCAA Regional on Friday. State's win eliminates the Minutemen from regional competition, and keeps the Spartans' season alive as they will face the winner of the Texas A&M-Georgia (began at 9:15 p.m. EDT Friday) game Saturday, May 22 at 2:30 p.m. Angel Merren was 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and two driven in. Jessica Beech and Elizabeth Peterson both went 2-for-4 at the plate; Beech added two runs scored and three RBI, while Peterson contributed one run and one RBI. Nicole Mercado, Natalie Furrow, Brittney Green, Janette Hurtado and Meghan Darhower each posted a hit for State in the run-rule shortened game. Beech moved her record to 29-15 on the year and struck out eight in the game. She allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits in 6.0 innings. The Spartans play the winner of the Texas A&M-Georgia game (slated for 8 p.m. Friday) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that game will face the losing team in the Georgia Tech-Washington game (scheduled for noon Saturday) at 5 p.m. Saturday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Illinois Stays Alive With 3-2 Win Over Houston WACO, Texas - After falling 5-0 to Baylor earlier in the day on Friday, Illinois rebounded with a 3-2 victory over Houston to stay alive in NCAA Tournament action. The Illini scored all three runs in the third inning and had solid pitching from Amanda Fortune to seal the win. Fortune, who has pitched all but four innings for Illinois in the tournament, was brilliant throughout most of the game. Fortune retired nine in a row and 15 of 16 at one point, to raise her record to 29-10 on the season. Illinois advances to meet either North Carolina or Seton Hall at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa Eliminated By Creighton in Ten Innings, 8-4 LINCOLN, Neb. - The University of Iowa softball team was eliminated from the NCAA Region V Tournament late Friday night by the Creighton Blue Jays. The score was 8-4 in ten innings. Iowa ends its season with a record of 39-24. In the top of the tenth with the score tied 4-4, Creighton opened up their offense with four runs on pair of hits, a walk, a hit batsman and a Hawkeye error. Iowa attempted a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with two out, but Creighton ace pitcher Tammy Nielsen shut the door on the Iowa season. Lisa Birocci took the loss in relief, throwing eight innings, allowing three hits, five runs (one earned) and striking out 13. The junior ended the season with a Hawkeye single-season record 313 strikeouts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ohio State Ends Season With 4-2 Loss to Cal-State Northridge TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The No. 6-seed Ohio State softball team (35-25) lost to No. 5-seed California State-Northridge (CSUN) (35-18), 4-2, Friday evening night in Region No. 4 of the 2004 NCAA Softball Tournament. Ohio State went up 1-0 after two innings, but one CSUN run in the fourth and three runs in the fifth gave the Matadors the postseason victory. Ohio State's Chelsea Baker was credited with the loss and fell to 6-4 overall. CSUN's Erin Sigala improved to 11-3 for the season. Freshman outfield Megan Schwab went 2-for-3 with one RBI and junior outfielder Karisa Evans batted 2-for-4 with one run scored. The Buckeyes finish the season 35-25 overall and 8-11 in Big Ten competition. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa Gets Past Maine, 2-0 LINCOLN, Neb. - Junior Lisa Birocci threw seven shutout innings and struck out 10 Black Bear hitters, leading Iowato a 2-0 victory over Maine. With the win, Iowastays alive in the NCAA Regional and advances to play the winner of the Nebraska-Creighton game tonight at 8 p.m. CDT. Kylie Murray scored the first Hawkeye run of the game after reaching on a double in the second inning. Birocci laid down a sac bunt and reached safely when the throw to first base missed. The error by the Mainedefense allowed Murrayto score from second. Birocci ended the game by striking out three Mainebatters in the bottom of the seventh.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michigan State Falls 12-8 to Washington After Impressive Comeback ATHENS, Ga. - Despite an eight-run, eight-hit seventh inning that was highlighted by a grand slam by Brittney Green, Michigan State could not overcome a 12-run deficit, and fell to No. 7 Washington, 12-8. Big Ten Tournament championMichigan State (35-25) faces Massachusetts in its second game of the day in the double-elimination format at approximately 6:45 p.m. Green posted her 10th home run of the season in a grand slam in the seventh as she went 2-for-3 with four RBI, a run scored and a walk. Nicole Mercado was 3-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI, while Janette Hurtado also had a multiple-hit day, with a 2-for-4 game at the plate. Washington (38-17) scored two runs in the second inning, and then went on to score three in the fourth, one in each the fifth and the sixth, and finally five runs in the seventh inning. Jessica Beech (28-15) threw 4.0 innings of work, giving up five runs on eight hits in the loss, while Washington‼sup>TMs Ashley Boek (27-11) pitched shutout ball in 5 2/3 innings, giving up four hits. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northwestern Blanked by Oklahoma TUCSON, Ariz. - A day after pounding UC Santa Barbara in its NCAA Regional opening game, Northwestern fell to No. 20 Oklahoma Friday, 8-0, in six innings. Northwestern falls to 33-19 on the season and will now face fourth-seeded South Carolina tonight at 9 p.m. CDT in the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Oklahoma , which improved to 42-19-1 on the year, jumped out to 1-0 lead in the second inning and then added another run in the fourth. The Sooners broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on four hits. Eileen Canney (18-4) took the loss in the game, giving up five runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings pitched. Keiter (19-12) earned the win for Oklahoma. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Illinois Falls to Baylor in Second Round WACO, Texas - After posting a shutout Thursday in the regional first round, Illinois was blanked, 5-0, today by host team Baylor. The loss sends Illinois to the loser‼sup>TMs bracket, where the Orange and Blue will take on Houston tonight at 5:30 p.m. CDT. Senior lead-off hitter LeeAnn Butcher knocked two hits for the Illini, however, her teammates were unable to drive in the run. Baylor pitchers Lisa Ferguson and Christin Vitek held the Illinois hitters to just four total hits in the game. Amanda Fortune (28-10) took the loss for the Illini, giving up three earned runs on six hits in three innings pitched. Sherri Taylor came in to relieve Fortune, but allowed two more Baylor runs in the next inning-and-a-third. One highlight for Illinois was the performance of freshman hurler Megan Huitink. Huitink pitched two-and-two-thirds scoreless innings, giving up just two hits while striking out three Baylor batters. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heavy Rain Suspends NCAA Regional Action in Ann Arbor Until Saturday ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A major line of thunderstorms moved through southeastern Michigan Friday afternoon (May 21) and interrupted play in the 2004 NCAA Softball Regional being held at the University of Michigan's Alumni Field. |
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