March 13, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

ORLANDO, Florida - The Cleveland State softball team split its two games at the Rebel Games on Thursday, defeating Yale, 1-0, and falling to Penn, 7-1. The Vikings are 1-3 at the Rebel Games and 6-5 on the season.

Cleveland State scored the game's only run in the bottom of the first, when Whitney Willard scored on a sacrifice by Lia Gordon. Yale did threaten in the fourth, when Yale stranded two on, including Katie Yanagisawa on third.

Brittany Bate earned her first collegiate victory in her first start, pitching six innings and giving up four hits. Amanda Macenko collected her second save of the season.

"Brittany had a great first outing, it's a world of a difference if you have defense, even though we didn't hit, it made a difference," head coach Angie Nicholson said.

In the second game, Penn broke out with the lead in the first inning, scoring two runs on a double from Alisha Prystowsky. Penn struck again in the fourth when two runs scored. Both runs reached base on errors. Penn scored again in the sixth, scoring another two runs from yet another double from Prystowski.

CSU avoided the shutout in the sixth inning, when Jessica Burt scored on a sacrifice by Christina Stoffer. Burt tripled earlier in the inning and went 2-3 in the game.

Penn's Jessie Lupardus pitched seven innings, giving up three hits and one run, improving her record to 6-1.

Macenko gave up eight hits, five earned runs, and fanned 12 in the loss, which dropped her to 4-4 on the season.

"You have to credit Penn for hitting the ball hard, they hit the ball well, but once again, take away the errors and you have a whole different ball game. If we don't have the offense pick up, it's going to be a long year."

The Vikings play two more games on Friday, facing Wagner at 9:00 a.m. and Rider at 1:00 p.m.