Tiesi Strikes Out 11 As Lady Raider Softball Advances To PSAC Championship Semifinals
May 5, 2006
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Senior
Kelley Tiesi (Baltimore, Md./Catholic School of Baltimore) pitched a two-hit
shutout while striking out 11 as No. 21-ranked Shippensburg advanced to
the semifinals of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Softball
Championship on Friday at Lock Haven's Lawrence Field with a 1-0 victory
over California (Pa.).
The Lady Raiders (38-17) will face Kutztown, who lost to Western Division
champion Lock Haven 5-1 on Friday afternoon. The winner of that game will
face Lock Haven in the championship, but will have to beat the Lady Eagles
twice.
Shippensburg scored the game's lone run in the top of the first inning
on an RBI-single by freshman Lori Knopf (Crown Point, Ind./Andrean).
Junior Heather Chantiles (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) led off with
a single up the middle in the game's first at bat before senior Kristen
Marll (Severn, Md./Archbishop Spalding) reached on a bunt single. Freshman
Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) then advanced the runners on
a ground out to the pitcher before Knopf drove in Chantiles for her 22nd
RBI of the season.
Meanwhile, Tiesi was brilliant in the circle, retiring the first 10 batters
she faced, including five by strikeout. The Vulcans did not have a base
runner until the second batter of the fourth inning when Jennifer Doty
singled to left center. Becky Mezyk then reached on a bunt single to put
runners on first and second with one out, but Tiesi struck out the next
two batters to end the threat.
For Tiesi, it was the 97th victory of her career, moving her into 14th
on the all-time Division II list. Her 11 strikeouts marked the 19th time
this season that she has totaled at least 10 and raised her career total
to 1,054. For her career, Tiesi has had 50 games with double-digit strikeouts.
Of her 76 total pitches, 62 were strikes.
Chantiles went 2-for-3 in the game and now has 103 for the season, moving
her into seventh on the Division II single-season list. Chrissa Landwehr
totaled 106 for Augustana (S.D.) in 2000 to rank sixth on the list.
Shippensburg and Kutztown will meet for the fifth time this season with
the Lady Raiders having won three of the previous four meetings. A win
against the Golden Bears would mean that Shippensburg would have to beat
Lock Haven twice to win its fourth-straight PSAC championship and play
three games, 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m., in the same day.
- Lady Raider Softball -
