March 13, 2011
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
ROCK HILL, S.C. - Tess Sito hit a pair of home runs and Amy Powell added a third for the Vikings but it was not enough as Towson touched up three pitchers for 11 runs to defeat Cleveland State, 11-6, in the final game of the Winthrop Adidas Invitational. Despite the setback, the Vikings claimed a share of the tournament crown with a 4-1 record.
The loss snaps CSU's win streak at five, dropping the Vikings to 9-5 on the year while Towson improves to 9-12.
"This wasn't our best effort this morning," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "Unlike the first four games, we were able to get the extra base hit today but we didn't put the runners on ahead of them in order to really make them count.
"Our pitching wasn't sharp. Tess had a bad inning early so I went to the bullpen and that was okay for a couple of innings, but eventually Towson was able to get around on our relievers and put some more runs on the board," Nicholson added.
After allowing just one run in recording three wins and a save in the first four games of the tourney, Sito was touched up for six earned runs in the second inning to give the Tigers an insurmountable lead.
It was the Vikings who struck first however as Sito crushed a solo home run with two outs in the first to put CSU ahead, 1-0.
The lead was short-lived as Erika Stasch had a three-run double to lead the Tigers in a six-run second inning.
The Vikings made it 6-2 in the fourth when Sito hit her fourth home run of the season and 22nd of her career, moving her past Amy Jauert (1995-98) and into second place on the CSU career chart.
After three solid innings of relief work, the Tigers got to Brittany Bate for three runs in the sixth, highlighted by a two-run double by Mickelle Oslin, to take a 9-2 lead.
CSU came right back with four runs in the bottom of the frame. Andrea Nagy led off with a walk and stole second before Dara Toman was hit by a pitch. Gabby Gillilan followed with a double to score both runners and Amy Powell finished the inning with a two-run homer to pull the Vikings to within 9-6.
The comeback ended there however as Haley Stueckler hit a two-run homer off of Kala Allred is the top of the seventh and CSU went down in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
The tournament featured some strong performances by the Vikings.
Gabby Gillian hit .375 (6-16) with a home run, double and four RBIs and Amy Powell went 5-for-15 (.333) with a home run and three RBIs and hit the ball hard all week.
Sito was 3-1 with a save in the circle, owning a 2.42 ERA in 26 innings of work and hit three home runs, scored five runs and stole four bases offensively.
The Vikings were 15-for-16 in stolen bases with Jessica Burt, Andrea Nagy and Sito each having four steals.
CSU will return home for two days before heading to Honolulu, Hawaii to take part in the Hawaii Spring Fling starting on Wednesday (March 16).
