April 12, 2006

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Michele Penney picked a fine time to hit her first home run of the season. The junior center fielder launched a two-out, two-strike, two-run bomb in the bottom of the sixth to propel Cleveland State to a 3-1 victory over Youngstown State on Wednesday evening at Viking Field.

With the win, the Vikings improve to 20-7 overall while moving into a tie for second place with the Penguins at 5-2 in the Horizon League. Meanwhile, YSU falls to 10-12 with the loss. Both teams trail UIC (6-2) by just a half-game in the standings.

The Penguins opened the scoring in the second inning when Allyse Ledford led off with a double and eventually came around to score on a two-out infield single by McKenzie Bedra.

The lead was short-lived, however, as senior second baseman Kaitlin Guyette lined her first homer of the year over the right field wall to knot the score at 1-1 in the home half of the second.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when sophomore designated player Whitney Willard led off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt and a line-out, Penney stepped up and extended her hitting streak to 10 games in dramatic fashion.

CSU's Grace Luginbuhl benefited from the heroics, earning the victory to improve to 13-4 on the year. She scattered seven hits while striking out six and walking none en route to earning her fourth straight victory in league play.

Tricia Hilbish fell to 5-5 after surrendering eight hits and three earned runs.

"Michele didn't have very good at-bats her first two times up, be she certainly came up big for us in a clutch situation," CSU head coach Julie Jones said. "I thought we played well -- I'm pleased with our overall effort. It was nice to keep the momentum going after taking two-of-three last weekend at Loyola."

Cleveland State next travels to Green Bay for a three-game league series with the Phoenix on Friday and Saturday (April 14-15).