| 04.16.09
- The Foresters evened their conference record at 6-6 and improved to
18-12 on the season by edging Taylor University 1-0 and 6-5 in an MCC
doubleheader. With neither team
able to generate any offense through regulation, the first contest
moved to an extra inning. As the visiting team, HU got its turn
at the plate first in the top of the eighth with leadoff batter
Jeanine Vaszari due up.
Vaszari got things off to a good start
by beating out a bunt for a hit. Brittney Bateman laid down a
sacrifice bunt to move her to second and then Brittany Gower
doubled to shallow left-center to drive in Vaszari for the eventual
game-winner.
Forester pitcher Lauren Ward struck out
two and got a pop up to short for the final out to earn the victory.
Ward allowed just three hits in the shutout, offered no free passes
and struck out eight.
In the second game, the Trojans were
able to match HU blow for blow through the first five innings of play,
but came up a run short in the sixth.
The Foresters opened the game with a
pair of runs in the top of the first, including an inside the park
homerun by Bateman, and added another run in the second. Taylor
pushed one across in its first at-bat and then knotted the score at
3-3 with two runs in the second. The two teams then traded one in the
fifth to make it 4-4.
In the decisive sixth inning, it was
again Vaszari who got things started with a leadoff single.
Bateman advanced her to second with a sacrifice bunt and Gower moved
her to third with another single. Ashley McCann then delivered
the game-winning shot, a two-run double to deep center.
Ward, who came on in relief of Molly
Long in the bottom of the sixth, held Taylor to just one run and then
stranded a Trojan at third base in the bottom of the seventh to
preserve the win.
Vaszari, Gower and Keri Badenhop each
had three hits for HU and McCann had a team-high two RBI. |
