Lady Raiders Advance in Mid-Atlantic Regional with 8-1 Rout of Millersville
May 11, 2006
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Shippensburg, the No. 2-seed in this week's NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship, advanced with an 8-1 victory over Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division rival Millersville on Thursday at Robb Field.
Hosting its fourth-straight regional championship, the Lady Raiders (41-18) combined a solid start from senior Kelley Tiesi (Baltimore, Md./Catholic School of Baltimore) and the offensive of freshman Lori Knopf (Crown Point, Ind./Andrean) and junior Katie Heatley (York, Pa./Dallastown).
Tiesi hurled a complete game, allowing one run on eight hits and striking out 11 while walking just one to earn her 24th victory. Knopf hit her team-leading fifth home run of the season, a three-run blast in the seventh inning while Heatley went 2-for-3 and drove in a career-high three RBI.
The Lady Raiders jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI-single from freshman Kelly Nelson (Warminster, Pa./William Tennant), an RBI-ground out from junior Ali Morris (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks East) and a two-run double from Heatley.
Heatley recorded her third RBI of the day on a single up the middle in the third inning, boosting the Shippensburg lead to 5-0.
Millersville (29-20) managed to pick up a run in the sixth, but Knopf's homer over the right-center field wall put the game out of reach.
Erica Slavinski suffered the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits in two and two-thirds innings of work.
Junior Heather Chantiles (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) went 2-for-4, giving her 107 hits on the season, ranking her fifth on the all-time Division II single-season list, while senior Kristen Marll (Severn, Md./Archbishop Spalding) also added a pair of hits.
Tiesi now has 1,071 career strikeouts, leaving her nine shy of moving into fifth-place on the all-time Division II list.
Shippensburg advances to take on No. 6-seed East Stroudsburg at 2:00 p.m., Friday at Robb Field. Millersville drops into the elimination bracket and will face Kutztown on Friday at 10:00 a.m.
- Lady Raider Softball -
