March 30, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
FAIRBORN, Ohio -- Viking bats were silent on Sunday as Wright State pitcher Sharon Palma threw a one-hitter and five CSU errors led to a pair of unearned runs in a 4-0 loss to the Raiders in the series finale on Sunday morning (March 30) at the Wright State Softball Field.
CSU, which won two of the three games in the series, had its win streak snapped at six games to fall to 12-6 overall and 2-1 in league play. Wright State improves to 12-15, 2-2.
"We just didn't play very well today," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "We had our chances to get some things going in a couple of innings but we just didn't hit, especially with runners in scoring position.
"Amanda pitched a strong game but we didn't back her up very well. Our defense misplayed way too many easy chances and that just opened up the door for a team like Wright State.
"Still, I am happy with the first weekend of league play. We hadn't played for 12 days and then had to travel instead of playing at home yet we came away with two wins. That's a pretty good weekend," Nicholson added.
Wright State scored all of the runs it would need in the fourth when Kristen Bradshaw hit a two-out homerun to left field to score Jherica Williams. Both of the runs were unearned as Williams had earlier reached base on a fieldinf error by second baseman Amanda Houchin.
The Raiders added two more in the sixth. Louie Haney led off with a triple to center and Williams followed with a double to left center, scoring Haney. Williams would advance to third on a ground ball and score on a throwing error by Christa Coppus.
The Viking bats struggled all afternoon.
Whitney Willard led off the game with a walk but Coppus lined out to second, allowing Wright State to double up the speedy left fielder at first base.
CSU would not get another baserunner until the fourth when Willard singled to left center to open the frame, the only hit that the Vikings would get on the afternoon. Willard stole second and, after two consecutive ground balls to the left side for outs, she stole third, only to be stranded when Lia Gordon struck out to end the inning.
The two steals by Willard raised her theft total to a team-high seven this year, giving her 61 career steals, the fourth-highest total in CSU history.
After coming from behind to win a pair of games on Saturday in the bottom of the seventh, the Vikings started a seventh inning rally on Sunday when Jessica Burt and Katelyn Ciminelli opened the inning with back-to-back walks and advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. The duo would go no further as a strikeout and a pair of ground balls would end the game without a run scored.
Viking sophomore Amanda Macenko pitched all seven innings in dropping to 9-5 on the year. She allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits, striking out five and walking none. Palma improved to 7-6, allowing just the one hit, striking out five with three walks.
The Vikings will hopefully open up the home portion of its schedule by playing five of its seven games at Viking Field. CSU will host Oakland for a doubleheader on Tuesday (April 1) at 3:00 p.m., travel to Robert Morris for a pair of games on Wednesday (April 2) and then host Butler for a three-game series on Saturday-Sunday, April 5-6.
