No. 19 Lady Raider Softball Drops Two Games Against Top-25 Competition
Mar. 24, 2007
SALEM, Va. - The No. 19-ranked Shippensburg
softball team dropped two games at the West Virginia Wesleyan Tournament
on Saturday at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex, losing 9-0 to No. 1-ranked
Lock Haven and 8-6 against No. 22 South Carolina Upstate.
The Lady Raiders (12-9) have now lost a season-high three-straight contests
and have lost eight of their last 14 games. They also lost three straight
on March 10 and 11.
In the first game, reigning Division II Player of the Year Kristin Erb won
her 13th game inside the circle by striking out seven and limiting Shippensburg
to just four hits in pitching a complete-game shutout.
The win was the 14th-straight for Lock Haven (17-1), including the second
consecutive against a ranked opponent after the team posted a 6-4 victory
over No. 12 Gannon on Friday.
Back on May 22, 2006, the Lady Eagles, who totaled nine runs on 12 hits,
won their first-ever team national championship, defeating Emporia State
3-0 at Moyer Sports Complex.
In the second game of the day, Shippensburg lost an offensive shootout against
USC Upstate as the two teams combined for six home runs with each team hitting
three. Sophomore Amanda Bardo (Montoursville/Montoursville) finished the
game 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs.
Meanwhile, Vanesa Flores also had two home runs for the 22nd-ranked Spartans
(29-4).
After being held scoreless against Lock Haven in which they totaled just
four hits, the Lady Raiders scored six runs on nine hits against USC Upstate.
However, the team left 14 runners on base with eight of those being stranded
by the team’s three through five hitters.
Three of those runners left on base came in the first inning when Shippensburg
loaded the bases with no outs.
After freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) drew an RBI-walk and
junior Sarah Stengl (High Springs, Fla./Hollidaysburg (Pa.)) was hit by a
pitch to score sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast).
However, Spartan pitcher Emily Jeffery retired the next three batters to
end the threat, including the last two by strikeout.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the bottom of the third, USC Upstate plated four
runs, all four of which came on back-to-back home runs by Shay Slater and
Flores with Slater hitting a three-run homer to center.
The Spartans added to its lead with three runs in the fourth on a three-run
home run by Flores to increase their lead to six, 8-2.
Shippensburg was not done though, as Bardo and freshman Lisamarie
Ramagli (Levittown/Neshaminy) hit back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the fifth
to cut the deficit in half, 8-4.
Bardo then hit a two-run homer in the sixth to pull the Lady Raiders within
two.
In the top of the seventh, Shippensburg put runners on second and third with
two outs before USC Upstate’s Brittany Rice induced a ground ball to
shortstop to end the game.
In the circle, Lady Raider junior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley) suffered
her third loss, allowing five runs on seven hits in just two innings.
Sophomore Lauren Plasterer (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) entered the game in
the third and pitched the final four innings, scattering four hits, including
the eventual game-winning three-run homer by Flores in the fourth.
Shippensburg returns to action on Sunday, playing PSAC Western Division rival
Indiana (Pa.) at 11:00 a.m., before concluding tournament play against Alderson-Broaddus
at 1:00 p.m.
- Lady Raider Softball -
