Chantiles Gets Hit No. 100, Softball Falls in Top-25 Matchup at Lock Haven
May 4, 2006
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Junior
Heather Chantiles (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) became the first player
in Division II to record 100 hits in a season since 2000, but No.
5-ranked Lock Haven scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to edge
out a 4-0 victory over No. 21 Shippensburg at Lawrence Field Friday evening
in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Softball Championship.
The loss ends a 10-game win streak in the PSAC Tournament for the Lady Raiders
(37-17) whose last loss came on May 3, 2002 to Lock Haven, 2-1.
Chantiles is just the 16th player in Division II history to total 100 hits
in a season, accomplishing the feat in the second-fewest games. Elisa Bartolo
of Florida Tech totaled 108 hits in just 51 games during the 1995 season.
The record for hits in a season in Division II history is held by Nikki Flynn
of North Dakota State who had 126 in 1998. Flynn is also second on the list,
totaling 124 in 2000.
Chantiles went 2-for-4 in the game and is now batting .503 this season.
Friday's game had a total of only eight hits as the top-25 match-up featured
the top two pitchers in the PSAC. Lock Haven's Kristin Erb and Shippensburg
senior Kelley Tiesi (Baltimore, Md./Catholic School of Baltimore) are ranked
first and second in the conference, respectively, in victories and earned
run average while Tiesi leads the PSAC in strikeouts with Erb trailing by
134.
Erb also leads the nation in earned run average, boasting a mark of 0.13
for the Western Division's No. 1-seed while Tiesi is right behind in third,
posting a mark of 0.70 in the Eastern Division which has five of its seven
teams ranked in the top-seven of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Poll, including
three of the top-five.
Tiesi, who finished the game with 15 strikeouts, just one shy of her career-high
of 16 set on April 10, 2003 in a 2-0 victory at Millersville, limited the
top offensive team in the conference to just five hits. She struck out the
first eight batters she faced and totaled 11 through five innings.
With the game scoreless after seven, the Lady Eagles had runners on first
and second with two outs when Erb, who also had seven strikeouts, drove in
the eventual game-winning run in the top of the eighth with an RBI-single
through the left side. Courtney Hughes then followed with a three-run homer
to left center to push the lead to four.
Chantiles totaled her 100th hit of the season in the bottom of the eighth,
but Shippensburg could not get a rally started as Erb retired three of the
four batters she faced.
The Lady Raiders' best chance to score came in the first when Chantiles led
of the bottom of the inning with a single to center field before advancing
to second on a wild pitch. Freshman Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) advanced Chantiles to third on a deep fly ball to center, but Shippensburg
could not bring her in as she was one of six runners left on base for a team
that is averaging seven per game.
Shippensburg will now face rival Bloomsburg in an elimination game at Noon
on Friday after Huskies were shutout by Kutztown 3-0 in the third game of
the tournament.
- Lady Raider Softball -
