May 13, 2005

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - (Friday, May 13, 2005) The Redhawks revenged their first round loss to Tennessee-Martin with a 4-1 victory over the Skyhawks to keep their O'Reilly Auto Parts Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship hopes alive at University Field in Jacksonville, Alabama this afternoon. The win propels the Redhawks into the semifinal game of the tournament for the first time since the 2000 season.

Stephanie Huffman (Valmayer, IL/Forest Park CC) pitched a brilliant game for the Redhawks (27-27) and shutdown the potent Skyhawk (33-21) bats. She pitched all seven innings allowing only one run on eight hits while walking only one.

Head Coach Lana Richmond made the right decision in going with Huffman after showing some success in their first round game. Despite a record of 0-2 in three appearances against the Skyhawks she had only allowed three runs in on nine hits combined and held the Skyhawks to a .225 batting average.

The team responded to Huffman's performance giving her support both offensively and defensively.

The Redhawks struck first against 1st Team All-OVC pitcher Megan Mizell. In the top of the third Michelle Summers (Glendale, CA/Hoover) reached on a single and advanced to second on a Victoria Torrez (Garden Grove, CA/Cypress CC) groundout. Hot-hitting Kelly Birk (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison HS) then singled to plate Summers for the 1-0 lead.

The Skyhawks responded in their half of the third with a solo homerun by Christa Webb off of Huffman to knot the game at one apiece. In the sixth the Redhawks provided a little security when Birk collected her third hit of the game when she singled. Birk was replaced on base by Ashley Robison (Sparta, IL/Sparta) who would move to third on a Lindsay Pickering (St. Charles, MO/St. Charles West HS) single and then scored on a throwing error by the first baseman attempting to throw out Pickering at second base.

The Redhawks added two more runs in the seventh with two outs. Torrez singled in Callie Brittan (Valley Park, MO/St. Charles CC) for the first run and Summers scored on a wild pitch for the final score of the inning and the game.

The Redhawks will now await to see who their opponent is for the semifinal. They will play the loser of the Jacksonville State/Tennessee Tech match-up. The game will take place tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Live scoring of all OVC tourney games will be available on the Jacksonville State official website at www.jsugamecocksports.com or through the OVC website at www.ovcsports.com.