Shields Strikes Out 11, Earns Win and Save in 5-4 Victory Over West Virginia State

Mar. 4, 2007

Box Score

SALISBURY, N.C. - Shippensburg softball junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) pitched five and 1/3 innings, totaling 11 strikeouts to earn her second win and third save of the season as the No. 20-ranked Lady Raiders held off a late rally by West Virginia State before taking a 5-4 victory in their final game at the Catawba Invitational.

Shields made her third start of the season and struck 10 through the first five innings, including eight of the first nine batters she faced, before leaving the game in the top of the sixth with Shippensburg (5-1) holding a 5-0 lead.

The Lady Raiders scored three runs in the bottom of the third on RBI hits from sophomores Kelly Nelson (Warminster/William Tennent) and Becky Brensinger (Chambersburg/Chambersburg).

After sophomore Amanda Bardo (Montoursville/Montoursville) led off with a single up the middle, she scored three batters later when Brensinger singled through the right side for the first run of the game.

Sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) followed with a single through the left side to put runners on first and second with two outs. Nelson then drove in her team-leading seventh and eighth RBIs of the season with a double to right center to give Shippensburg a 3-0 lead.

The Lady Raiders added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, including what would prove to be the game-winning run when senior Katie Heatley (York/Dallastown) scored Wedell from third on a two-out single through the left side.

Earlier in the inning, junior Liz Good (Croydon/Truman) scored on Nelson’s third RBI of the contest when Nelson singled to right. Nelson finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Brensinger was also 2-for-3 with one RBI.

Holding a 5-0 lead going into the top of the sixth, junior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley) made her second appearance of the season in the circle, but two errors led to two unearned runs for the Yellow Jackets and a 5-2 lead for Shippensburg.

In the seventh, Kirby retired the first two batters she faced before Lauren Nichols singled up the middle and scored on a double to left by Corey Huston during the next at bat. Huston then scored when Casey Jo Crawford doubled to right center to pull West Virginia Wesleyan within one run, 5-4.

Shields then re-entered to record her 11th strikeout of the game by getting Kris Taylor swinging to pick up her third save in as many outings this weekend.

Meanwhile, Kirby struck out two in one and two-thirds innings and allowed just two earned runs. She has struck out out five in two and two-thirds innings this season.

Shippensburg, who finished the weekend 3-1 at the Catawba Invitational, will travel to Kissimmee, Florida next week to compete in the Rebel Spring Games. The Lady Raiders open tournament play on Saturday, March 10.

- Lady Raider Softball -