March 5, 2006

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Saturday, March 4, 2006) After a tough opening day at the Missouri State Spring Classic which saw the Redhawks softball team go 0-2 and only managing a combined two runs, they bounced back by winning both of their games on Saturday as their bats came alive to outscore their opponents by a combined score of 12-4. The Redhawks shutout Missouri-Kansas City 4-0 in their first game before returning later in the afternoon to defeat Saint Louis University 8-4.

Ace Elaine Fisher (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell North) recorded her second complete game shutout of the season as she held the Kangeroos (0-7) to only four hits while striking out a career-high 12 batters enroute to her second win of the season.

The Redhawks (4-4) gave her plenty of run support in her outing. In the first inning Michelle Summers (Glendale, CA/Hoover) led off with her second homerun of the season. It was her fifth career first inning lead-off homerun.

The Redhawks added three insurance runs in the fifth inning. Summers reached base on a walk and moved to second on a Charlene Ramirez (Walnut, CA/Mt. San Antonio CC) walk. The Redhawks loaded the bases when Megan McDonald (Cape Girardeau, MO/Cape Central) reached on an error. Newcomer Jennifer Monaghan (West Palm Beach, FL/American Heritage) flied out to deep center to plate Summers and advance Ramirez and McDonald into scoring position for Lauren Bradley (Overland park, KS/Shawnee Mission South) who then doubled to left to score both runners.

Summers went 1-3 with one RBI and two runs scored. Bradley went 1-3 with two RBIs. Lindsay Pickering (St. Charles, MO/St. Charles West HS) also went 1-3 with a double.

In their final game of the Classic the Redhawks exploded for eight runs against the Billikens (1-3). The Billikens struck first in the opening inning as they scored a run off of starter Stephanie Huffman (Valmayer, IL/Forest Park CC). The Redhawks responded with seven unanswered runs over the next two innings.

In the second Pickering singles to center field. Huffman followed her with a single of her own to move Pickering to second. Stephanie Mata (Wheeling, IL/Wheeling HS) then doubled to score Pickering. Summers then cleared the bases with a double of her own scoring Mata and Huffman. Ramirez then singled to score Summers as the Redhawks held a 4-1 lead.

The following inning the Redhawks again struck when McDonald led-off with a double. Monaghan singled next to move McDonald to third. Bradley then singled to load the bases. Pickering doubled to clear the bases for a 7-1 advantage.

The Billikens added three runs in the fourth but the Redhawks answered with a McDonald solo homerun in their half of the fourth to put the game out of reach.

Huffman (2-2) got the win despite allowing four runs in 3.2 innings. She did strikeout four Billikens and helped her own cause with a 1-2 day at the plate with a run scored.

Pickering went 2-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. McDonald finished 2-3 with two runs scored and one RBI. Ramirez finished 2-4 with one RBI.

The Redhawks travel to non-conference rival Southern Illinois on Tuesday, March 7 in Carbondale Illinois. The two teams will play two games with the first pitch for game one set for 3:00 p.m. Both games can be heard live on http://siusalukis.collegesports.com/multimedia/silu-softball06.html