Lady Raider Softball Drops Pair of Games at Rebel Spring Games
Mar. 12, 2008
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - A good, old-fashioned pitcher’s duel transpired Wednesday at the Osceola County Softball Complex as Shippensburg senior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del/Sussex Tech) went toe-to-toe with reigning NCAA Division Softball Championship MVP Kaitlyn Colosimo of the defending national champion and No. 3-ranked SIU Edwardsville.
When the dust settled, it was an unearned run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning that led the Cougars (16-3) to a 1-0 victory.
Later in the day, Shippensburg (7-9) dropped a 10-1 decision in five innings to Southwest Minnesota State.
Shields limited SIU Edwardsville to just two hits and induced eight pop outs that didn’t leave the infield. The Cougars, who entered the game with a team batting average of .308 and 16 home runs, mustered just two seeing-eye singles to left. The team’s top hitter, Courtney Mall, popped up three times and never got a ball out of the infield.
Colosimo, the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Pitcher of the Year a season ago, was perfect through five innings and recorded a strikeout to lead off the sixth before sophomore Lisamarie Ramagli (Levittown/Neshaminy) laced a double into the left centerfield gap.
Freshman Maggie Sander (Williamsport/Jersey Shore) entered as a pinch-runner and advanced to third on a ground out by freshman Jill Mullan (Pasadena, Md./Northeast), but a strikeout ended the Lady Raider half of the frame, keeping the game scoreless.
Shields escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first with a strikeout to stave off an early scoring chance from the Cougars, but the senior pitcher could not avoid the repercussions of a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh.
After Lindsey Longfellow was lifted for Haylee Eubanks following her hit to left, the pinch runner stole second and her speed proved to be a difference in the outcome as Amanda Pucel came to the plate and hit a ball to second base where senior Amanda Bardo (Montoursville/Montoursville) could not get the ball out of her glove, allowing Eubanks to score from second to win the game for the Cougars.
Frustrated by the outcome but not by their performance, the Lady Raiders then matched up against the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State (7-3), a team ranked No. 22 in the NFCA Division II Preseason Poll.
Both teams plated one run in the first, but could have struck for more. In the top of the frame, Jessica Paczosa scored on an RBI-bunt from Erin Dickhausen and the Mustangs put runners on second and third with no outs.
Freshman Dana Ward (Olney, Md./Sherwood) then induced two pop-ups and a strikeout to strand the two runners.
In the bottom of the first, Bardo doubled home senior Liz Good (Croydon/Truman), but was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play.
However, it only got worse for Shippensburg as the Mustangs scored nine unanswered runs off Ward and senior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley).
Four hits and a walk led to five Mustang runs in the second inning and four more hits in the fourth led to four runs and a 10-1 Southwest Minnesota State lead through just three-and-a-half innings.
The Lady Raiders allowed 12 hits and a three-run homer and have now dropped three straight.
Shippensburg will wrap up its participation at the Rebel Spring Games with two contests on Friday at the Fortune Road Complex. At 1:00 p.m., the Lady Raiders will take on Minnesota-Duluth before facing Southern Indiana at 5:00 p.m.
- Lady Raider Softball -
