May 10, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
CHICAGO, Ill. - Jacqueline Macy doubled home a pair of runs with two outs in the seventh inning as Cleveland State lost for the first time after leading going into the seventh, falling 6-4 to Wright State in the semi-finals of the Horizon League Championship.
Cleveland State (30-17), the top seed, will now need to fight its way through the consolation bracket in order to claim the title. The Vikings will need to defeat either UIC, Green Bay or Loyola at 12:00 noon on Saturday (May 10) in order to advance to the championship game against Wright State. CSU must then claim two wins over Wright State, the last coming at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday (May 11) to secure the title.
"We did not turn in the kind of effort that we needed tonight," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "You can't make errors that give a team like Wright State four extra outs and base runners and expect to win. They are too good of a team to let that happen.
"Offensively, we did what we needed to do to win and I thought our pitching was good enough as well. What we didn't do was field the ball cleanly and take the easy out. That allowed them to extend innings and put runs on the board.
The Vikings jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second when Natalie DeMatteis hit a two-out bases loaded double just inside the bag at third to score Christa Coppus and Katelyn Ciminelli.
The lead held until the fifth when Wright State put three runs on the board to take a 3-2 lead.
Mollie Berry led off with a solo homerun to rightcenter. After Briauna Birl reached on a infield single, back-to-back fielding errors allowed the Raiders to load the bases with nobody out. Jherica Whilliams, the Horizon League Player of the Year singled to center to score two runs but Louie Haney was thrown out trying to go from first to third. Amanda Macenko then forced a pop-up and a strikeout to end the inning.
Wright State's lead was short-lived as the Vikings answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. DeMatteis led off with an infield single and Tara Meyer pinch ran for her. Whitney Willard followed by faking a bunt and slapping a ball through the left side of the infield. Danielle Young sacrificed the runners to second and third and Jessica Burt took advantage, singling up the middle to score both runs and put CSU ahead, 4-3.
The lead held until the seventh when Haney homered to right center with one out to tie the game at 4-4. Williams singled to center and Kristen Bradshaw hit a potential double play grounder to second that DeMatteis misplayed, allowing both runners to reach safely. A ground ball out to second allowed runners to advance to second and third before Macy came off the bench for the game-winning pinch hit double.
The Vikings couldn't get anything going in the bottom of the frame, going down 1-2-3 to end the game.
Macenko was the loser, dropping to 25-13. She allowed nine hits in seven innings, striking out six with a pair of walks. Three of the six runs were unearned. Sharon Palma (17-9) was the winner for WSU, allowing four runs (all earned) on six hits.
CSU went into the game with a perfect 21-0 record when leading after six innings and a 6-0 mark on Friday's this year,
2008 Horizon League Softball Championship
Second Day Results
Butler 3, Youngstown State 1 (YSU Eliminated)
Green Bay 8, Detroit 0 (5 Inn.) (Detroit Eliminated)
Wright State 5, UIC 1
Loyola 2, Butler 1 (Butler Eliminated)
Green Bay 8, Valparaiso 1 (Valpo Eliminated)
Wright State 6, CSU 4
Third Day Schedule (Saturday, May 10)
Loyola vs. Green Bay, 10:00 a.m. (Loser Eliminated)
UIC vs. Loyola/Green Bay winner, 12:00 noon (Loser Eliminated)
Cleveland State vs. UIC vs. Loyola/GB Winner, 2:00 p.m. (Loser Eliminated)
Wright State vs. 2:00 p.m. winner, 4:00 p.m.*
* - If WSU loses, teams play a second game on Sunday, May 11 at 9:00 a.m. with the winner claiming the championship.
