March 15, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
ORLANDO, Florida - The Cleveland State softball team defeated Army, 3-1, and Fairleigh Dickinson by the same score, to wrap up their spring break trip at the Rebel Games. CSU has won four straight to finish the Rebel Games with a 5-3 record and is now 10-5 for the season.
CSU jumped out in front against Army, scoring all three of their runs in the second inning. Tara Meyer scored the first run on a single from Amanda Kern. Meyer pinch ran for Katelyn Ciminelli, who singled to open the inning. Kern scored after Whitney Willard reached base on an error. Danielle Young scored CSU's final run on a Christa Coppus double. Young reached base on an error.
Army's attempt at a comeback in the fifth inning fell short. Jennae Tomlinson scored on a two-out triple by Sarah Yates. Tomlinson reached on an error earlier in the inning. Amanda Macenko struck out Melissa Garza to strand one and get out of the inning.
Macenko went the distance for the Vikings, giving up three hits and striking out 11. Macenko finished the Rebel Games 3-3 and is now 7-6 for the season.
Fairleigh Dickinson scored the first run in the game in the fourth inning. FDU had the bases loaded with one out and Meghan Doherty scored on a Hope Hillman sacrifice fly to right field. Jessica Burt threw out Kim Carbaugh on her attempt to advance to get CSU out of the inning.
Cleveland State struck back in the sixth, scoring three runs. Whitney Willard and Christa Coppus scored after Burt reached on an error. Willard also reached on an error and Coppus walked. Haley Keller doubled to knock in Jessica Burt.
Kala Allred got the starting nod for the second game versus Fairleigh Dickinson. The freshman pitched seven innings, giving up four hits and striking out five. Allred is now on 2-1 the season and went 1-0 at the Rebel Games.
After dropping three of the first four games, Cleveland State won their last four games at the Rebel Games to finish 5-3 in Florida.
"We were able to come through with some timely hits when we needed to and our pitching did a great job of shutting down the teams proud of pitching staff," head coach Angie Nicholson said. "I still think we can come out more aggressively with the bats but came through when we needed to. Overall, I think we learned a great deal and hopefully the experience will only make us stronger in weeks to come."
The Vikings travel to Ypsilanti, Mich. on Tuesday, March 25 at 2:00 p.m. for a twinbill against Eastern Michigan.
