No. 15 Softball Snaps Three-Game Losing Streak With 4-0 Win Over Minnesota-Duluth

Mar. 14, 2007

Game One | Game Two

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) threw her first shutout of the season and the 14th of her career as the No. 15-ranked Shippensburg softball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Wednesday at the Rebel Spring Games.

In their second game, the Lady Raiders (7-5) committed four errors and had just two hits in dropping a 2-0 decision to Massachusetts Lowell. It was Shippensburg’s fourth loss in the last five games.

Against the Bulldogs, Shippensburg scored two runs in the top of the first on five hits, including bases loaded singles to left by junior Sarah Stengl (High Springs, Fla./Hollidaysburg (Pa.)) and sophomore Amanda Bardo (Montoursville/Montoursville).

The Lady Raiders would extend its lead in the fifth on a solo home run to left center by freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) and an RBI-single to left by senior Katie Heatley (York/Dallastown) that scored freshman Kiley Abersold (Philipsburg/Philipsburg-Osceola) who pinch ran for Stengl after she doubled to right center.

Meanwhile, Shields managed to keep Minnesota Duluth at bay, striking out five batters while walking one. The Bulldogs (6-6) managed to total nine hits against the Lady Raiders’ top pitcher, but stranded 10 runners on base as Shields picked up her fourth win of the season and improved her career mark to 33-12 while raising her career strikeout total to 371.

Stengl finished the game 3-for-3 with a walk and one RBI. Henninger and sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) each went 2-for-4.

In game two versus UMass Lowell, who entered the season ranked No. 25 in the NFCA Division II Preseason Top 25 Poll, Shippensburg could only manage a season-low two hits while committing season-high four errors.

Junior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley) made her second start of the season and pitched one of her best games, holding the River Hawks to just six hits while striking out four and walking only one, but the Lady Raiders could not get any offense going and suffered their first shutout loss of the season and the first since a 1-0 loss to Lock Haven in the season-finale last year on May 14, 2006.

Shippensburg returns to action at the Rebel Spring Games on Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m., against NAIA Saint Xavier.

- Lady Raider Softball -