Feb. 19, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - Angie Nicholson said all during the fall and preseason that the Viking freshman class was a good one. It took just one day to show how good as the duo of Dara Toman and Tess Sito combined for six hits and seven RBI as Cleveland State upended Weber State, 11-7, to garner a split of games on the opening day of the Troy Cox Invitational at New Mexico State.
CSU (1-1) opened the day by dropping an 8-0 decision to Bradley in five innings.
"It is good that we came back and hit the ball against Weber State because I really felt like we let a win get away from us against Bradley," Nicholson said. "I know that it was our first game outside this year and facing live pitching, but that doesn't explain our defensive lapses and inability to make routine plays.
"On the positive side, we bounced back in the second game and hit the ball like we are capable of doing and we did some nice things on the base paths. We'll see tomorrow which kind of team that we are going to be," she added.
Sito went three-for-three with four RBI, two runs scored and a pair of home runs while Toman was three-for-four with a double, triple and three RBI to key the 11-run explosion. In addition, Sito threw five innings to pick up her first career win.
"Those two (Sito & Toman) are two of the new players who we are going to count on this year for production. Today was a good example of what they are capable of," Nicholson said.
The Vikings jumped on Weber State starter Angela DeVries for seven runs in the first inning to take control of the game.
Jessica Burt led off with a walk and Megan Bashak was hit by a pitch. The duo executed a double steal with Burt coming in to score when the throw from Marqi Gray went into centerfield. Sito followed with a two-run homerun to left that cleared the batting cages beyond the outfield wall to put CSU ahead, 3-0.
Lia Gordon and Macall Shepperd each walked and Toman laced a triple to right-center to score two runs and push the lead to 5-0. Freshman Afton Allred followed with an RBI double to left center but she was thrown out trying to turn the hit into a triple. The seventh run scored when Andrea Nagy hit a line down the line to right that got by the Weber State outfielder for a homerun.
Weber State strung together four hits off Sito in the second and added a single run in the third to close to within 7-4, but the Vikings added two runs in the fourth. Jessica Burt led off with an infield single and Bashak walked. The duo again executed a double steal with Burt coming in to score on a throwing error by the catcher. Sito followed with an RBI double to left to score Bashak and push the lead back to 9-6.
The Vikings added two insurance runs on the sixth, the first on a solo homerun by Sito and the second when Toman doubled to left to score Sheppard.
Sito went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. She struck out four and walked to before giving way to Brandy Holmes in the sixth.
Eight of the 11 Vikings hits were for extra bases in the contest as CSU hit three homeruns with one triple and four doubles.
"When we hit the ball, we can really hit the ball and string together the extra base hits," Nicholson said. "That's what makes this lineup so potent at times."
CSU stole nine bases in the nightcap with Sito and Burt stealing three each, Bashak two and Alicia Nichols one.
Devries was the loser for Weber State, allowing 11 earned runs on 11 hits in six innings. She walked eight and did not strike out a batter.
The first game of the day couldn't have been more different as the Vikings could manage just one hit, a Lia Gordon lead-off single in the second.
Bradley, who was scheduled to be the second opponent of the day for CSU before Weber State had difficulty getting to New Mexico because of bad weather, jumped on Viking starter Amanda Macenko for two runs in the second on a two-run single by Amanda Clack.
A five-run Bradley third inning hinged on a big call by one of the field umpires as Macenko appeared to have struck out Jacqueline Vitale for the second out but the play was ruled an illegal pitch and Vitale subsequently walked. The Braves then strung together six straight singles, only one of which left the infield, to take a 7-0 lead.
"They bunted us to death," Nicholson said. "They took advantage of a hard field and our inability to properly execute bunt defense to score five runs and that is unacceptable. We are better than that but we got flustered and couldn't compose ourselves in time.
"Although the stats don't show it, Amanda threw a pretty good game. She had a hard time getting a good push-off in the circle because the field was hard and slippery, but she had good speed and good location. She deserved a better outcome."
Bradley scored its eighth run in the bottom of the third and Macenko gave way to Holmes after throwing just 3.1 innings. Macenko allowed eight runs (six earned) on 12 hits, striking out four with three walks. Holmes, making her Viking debut after missing the entire 2009 season following knee surgery, struck out the only two batters she faced.
"Brandy threw pretty well when we called on her today and that is a good sign for us," Nicholson added.
Cleveland State continues play on Saturday, facing St. Mary's starting at 12:00 noon.
