Feb. 20, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Freshman Gabby Gillilan hit a two run homerun to lead off the top of the eighth, giving Cleveland State an 8-6 win over St. Mary's on the second day of the 21st annual Troy Cox Invitational at New Mexico State.
The blast, the first of Gillian's career, barely cleared the fence in left field and came with Dara Toman on second base. Toman, who made the last out in the seventh inning, was placed on second as part of the tournament tie-breaking rules.
"Our freshmen continue to play real well for us and Gabby's timely hitting is a great example of it," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said.
"We jumped all over St. Mary's early in the game and built a big lead. But then we kind of coasted and let them get back into it when we should have continued to pound the ball like we are capable of doing and won the game by the run rule.
"We are getting better defensively, but we aren't there yet. We are still making some mental mistakes that are costing us by putting base runners on and extending innings. I thought we were better today, but we still have a long way to go to get ready for league play."
The win improved the Vikings to 2-1 while St. Mary's dropped to 1-2.
The Vikings jumped on Gaels starter Maryanne Cronin for six runs in the second inning, but just two of the runs were earned.
After Katelyn Ciminelli led off the second with a single and advanced to second on a ground ball, she came around to score on a double to left by Toman to put CSU ahead, 1-0. Three batters later, Jessica Burt was safe on an error by leftfielder Michelle Mounts, allowing Alicia Nichols and Gillilan to score.
Freshman Tess Sito, who hit a pair of homeruns in a win over Weber State yesterday, singled to score Burt and Lia Gordon followed with a two-run double to push the Viking lead to 6-0.
CSU starter Amanda Macenko cruised through the first three innings but the Gaels put three runs on the board in the fourth when Whitney Heuser hit a two-out three-run homer to left field to cut the CSU lead in half, 6-3.
St. Mary's added a run in the sixth on a two-out bases loaded walk to Rebecca Sabatini that scored Melissa Barretto, and the Gaels then tied it at 6-6 in the seventh on a two-run double by Tiffany Gonzales.
Macenko settled down after that. With CSU leading, 8-6 going into the bottom of the eighth, Macenko struck out Heuser and Sabatini to open the inning and then induced Megan Smith to pop out to short to end the game.
Macenko went all eight innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on nine hits. She struck out 12 and walked four to earn her school record 81st career victory.
"Amanda threw pretty well today," Nicholson said. "The umpires tried to play some games with her regarding her footing on the rubber but Amanda was able to overcome them."
The Vikings pounded out 11 hits with Sito, Gordon and Ciminelli getting two each. Gillilan drove in a pair of runs and scored twice.
Cleveland State will close out the tourney on Sunday with games against host New Mexico State (11:30 a.m.) and Tennessee (1:30 p.m.).
