No. 15 Lady Raider Softball Opens Play in Rebel Spring Games

Mar. 10, 2007

Game One | Game Two

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The No. 15-ranked Shippensburg softball team began play in the 2007 Rebel Spring Games on Saturday, winning its first game against South Dakota 6-1 before dropping game two against St. Cloud State, 4-1.

Junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) won her third game of the season in the opener, striking out 10 Coyotes while surrendering just three hits and one earned run as the Lady Raiders (6-2) won their fourth-straight game.

Offensively, Shippensburg was led by junior captain Amanda Bardo (Montoursville/Montoursville) who went 1-for-3 with a two-run double and senior captain Katie Heatley (York/Dallastown) who was 1-for-2 with an RBI-single in the first to score the first of the Lady Raiders’ three runs in the first two innings.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, junior Liz Good (Croydon/Truman) singled before stealing second and would then score when sophomore Becky Brensinger (Chambersburg/Chambersburg) reached on a fielding error by the first baseman, sending the ball into right field.

Brensinger would also score on the same play when a throw by the catcher to throw her out at second, sailed into centerfield, giving Shippensburg a 3-0 lead after two innings.

Meanwhile, Shields easily worked her way through the Coyotes’ lineup through the first three innings, retiring all nine batters she faced, including eight by strikeout. The only batter to put the ball into play, Emily Chvatal, popped up to Shields while trying to lay down a bunt in the second.

The Lady Raiders would add three insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings beginning with Bardo’s two-run double in the fourth that scored freshmen Andria Fisanich (Beltsville, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) and Kylie Abersold (Philipsburg/Philipsburg Osceola), both of whom entered the game as pinch runners.

With bases loaded in the fifth, Shippensburg scored its third unearned run of the game when freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) scored on a fielder’s choice after the catcher dropped the throw from shortstop on the force out at home.

South Dakota (5-7) scored its lone run in the top of the sixth, breaking up the Lady Raiders’ bid for the shutout when Abby Poulter led off the inning with a triple to right. She scored during the next at-bat when Michelle Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right.

Jones, who started the game in the circle before moving to right in the fifth, pitched 4.1 innings, scattering five hits while allowing six runs, only three of which were earned.

Against St. Cloud State (13-8), Shippensburg fell behind 3-0 after the first inning as the Huskies totaled three runs on three hits, highlighted by a two-run double to center by Kaity Stever.

After a rocky start in the first, Lady Raider junior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley) settled down and did very well over the next three innings, allowing only four hits and one earned run while striking out four.

Before being relieved in the bottom of the fifth by sophomore Lauren Plasterer (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) with Shippensburg trailing 4-0, Kirby totaled five strikeouts while surrendering seven hits and no walks.

The Lady Raiders tried to rally in the sixth when Brensinger led off the inning with a double to left center and the scored when sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) followed with an RBI-single to left.

However, St. Cloud State’s Lacey Trossbach struck out the next two batters swinging before sophomore Kelly Nelson (Warminster/William Tennent) singled to center and Heatley popped up to shortstop.

Still facing a 4-1 deficit in the top of the seventh, Shippensburg put runners on first and second with one out before Trossbach ended the game with back-to-back strikeouts.

Kirby suffered her first loss of the season while Plasterer threw 1.2 innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out one.

Shippensburg returns to action on Sunday with back-to-back games against Minnesota State-Mankato beginning at 3:00 p.m.

- Lady Raider Softball -