Lady Raiders Conclude 2007 Season With 2-1 Loss to Edinboro

May 12, 2007

Box Score | Championship Web Site

KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Edinboro’s Vanessa Rose struck out 12 and allowed just five hits in winning a pitcher’s duel, edging out Shippensburg junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) as the Fighting Scots held off a seventh-inning rally en route to a 2-1 victory in the Mid-Atlantic Region Championship Saturday at Kutztown’s North Campus Field.

Edinboro (21-21) advances to Game 12 where it will face East Stroudsburg who eliminated host Kutztown Saturday morning, 11-10.

For Shippensburg (30-24), the loss ends the Lady Raiders’ season with their sixth consecutive 30-win season and sixth-straight NCAA regional championship appearance.

Shields finished the game with seven strikeouts while allowing just four hits as she held the Fighting Scots scoreless through the first five innings, facing just one batter over the minimum.

Trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, Shippensburg freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) led off with a double to left center and then scored on an RBI-single under the glove of a diving Dana Webb at second base by freshman Lisamarie Ramagli (Levittown/Neshaminy).

Becky Brensinger (Chambersburg/Chambersburg), who entered as a pinch runner for Ramagli, then advanced to second and into scoring position with one out following a sacrifice bunt by junior Sarah Stengl (High Springs, Fla./Hollidaysburg (Pa.)).

However, Rose got the final two Lady Raider batters to strike out swinging and preserve her 15th victory of the season.

Henninger finished the game 2-for-3 after entering the contest 0-for-6 in two previous tournament games. Meanwhile, Ramagli went 1-for-3 and finished the regional championship batting .500 after going 4-for-8 with two RBIs.

With two outs in the sixth, Katelyn Gurgiolo reached on a bunt single and then stole second before Rose singled to left field to score Gurgiolo and give Edinboro a 1-0 lead.

In the seventh, the Fighting Scots would score its second run, again with two outs, when Leanne Carmichael hit her fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field, to provide what proved to be the game-winning run.

For Shippensburg’s lone senior, Katie Heatley (York/Dallastown), the loss ended her three-year career with the Lady Raiders after she joined the team in 2005 after transferring from Division I Bucknell. Serving as one of the team’s two captains this season, Heatley finished the season batting a career-high .252 with 38 hits and 19 RBIs, also career-highs.

With graduation ceremonies being held at Seth Grove Stadium on Saturday during the Lady Raiders’ game with Edinboro, Heatley officially became a 2007 graduate of Shippensburg, earning a degree in criminal justice. In addition to receiving her degree, she was also named as an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team selection on Thursday.

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