Feb. 10, 2011
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Andrea Nagy celebrated her return to the lineup after missing the 2010 season because of injury by driving in a pair of runs and Tess Sito struck out a career-high 11 as Cleveland State opened the 2011 season with a 3-1 win over UT-Arlington on the opening day of the Best Western Marina Grand Invitational.
In the other tournament game on Thursday, host Texas A&M Corpus Christi upended Loyola, 9-1, in six innings.
"It was good to get out on the field and play against somebody besides ourselves," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "We were totally wound up at the start of the game and we made a couple of mistakes that I would right off as first game jitters.
"We hit the ball hard all day long, but unfortunately, most of the time it was right at people. Still, that is a great sign because we created a lot of opportunities which I know that we will be able to take advantage of down the road," Nicholson added.
The game was a good sign for the Vikings, who set a school record for wins in a season with a 44-15 record last year. Nagy, played in just nine games last year before being sidelined following surgery to her thumb, had a single and two RBIs. Senior Jessica Burt was two-for-three with a run scored and Megan Bashak was one-for-one with a pair of walks, a run scored and an RBI.
Sito, who replaces three-time Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Amanda Macenko as the No. 1 starter for the Vikings this year, showed the form that made her one of the top pitchers in the nation during her final two years of high school. After allowing the lone run in the top of the first, she settled down, allowing no more than one runner in any inning until the Mavericks.
"Tess threw hard today and she did a nice job of hitting her spots," Nicholson said. "She started a little slowly but as the game went along, she found her groove. They weren't able to catch up with her today and although they had some scoring chances, I think they only hit one ball hard all day."
The Mavericks opened the scoring in the first inning when Stephanie Gonzalez led off with a bunt to the left side that Sito fielded and threw to first but Dara Toman, who was rotating over to cover, could not come up with the throw for a two-base error. Gonzalez took third on a wild pitch and came into score on a ground ball to short by Rebecca Collom.
"We fell asleep at the start of the game," Nicholson said. "That I about as simple of a play as they come yet we weren't able to rotate in the infield and cover first on time."
The Vikings came right back in the bottom of the frame to even the game at 1-1 on an RBI ground ball by Andrea Nagy that scored Jessica Burt. Burt singled to lead off the inning, stealing second and advancing to third on a ground ball out by Alicia Nichols.
CSU took a 2-1 lead in the second when Megan Bashak bashed a two-out double to center to score Amy Powell from second, but Caila Ferro was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
The Vikings made it 3-1 in the fifth when Nagy singled through the left side with one out to score Bashak from second base.
Arlington rallied in the sixth, putting runners at first and second with one out before Sito struck out Taylor Zink on a 1-2 pitch and enticed Charne Office to pop out to second to end the inning.
The Mavericks added a pair of hits in the seventh, putting runners on second and third with two outs before Lyles grounded out to second to end the game.
Sito went the distance to pick up the win, striking out 11 and allowing just one unearned run to improve to 4-0 in her career.
Cleveland State will take on Loyola on Friday (Feb. 11) at 12:00 noon EST before facing the host Islanders at 3:00 p.m. to conclude pool play. In other action on Friday, UT-Arlington will play Loyola at 10:00 a.m. and UT-Arlington will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 5:00 p.m.
