Softball Wins Pair at WTAM
February 25, 2008
AMARILLO, Texas – Southwestern Oklahoma State University won two of four games at the 12-team West Texas A&M Softball Invitational which completed its two-day run Saturday at Amarillo, Texas.
The Bulldogs were 8-5 winners against New Mexico Highlands and then beat Nebraska Kearney, 7-0. The Bulldogs were beaten by West Texas A&M, 7-2 and lost to Mesa State, 7-4.
SWOSU is now 4-4 after the tournament and will next play at home Tuesday against New Mexico Highlands in a doubleheader set to begin at 2 p.m.
Against New Mexico Highlands, SWOSU used a four-run fifth inning that put them ahead to stay. Brittany Strickland had a bases-loaded double that scored two runners and Lacie Keplinger followed with a bunt single that scored a third. SWOSU finished its scoring in the inning when Stacy Creger scored on a ground out to give the Bulldogs a 6-4 advantage
The lead would hold as SWOSU’s Alex Zukerman pitched five strong innings in relief allowing just two runs while scattering three hits to raise her record to 2-1.
Against the hosts, WTAMU, the Bulldogs scored just two runs on RBI singles by Keri Glidewell and Creger. SWOSU was unable to dig out of a 5-0 second-inning hole and played catch up the entire game. Strickland took the loss on the mound, allowing seven runs, five of which were earned. She gave up 10 hits and fell to 1-2 with the loss.
Against Mesa, SWOSU had a 4-2 lead come undone in the sixth inning as the Mavericks pushed across four runs against Zukerman. The Bulldogs were hurt by two costly fielding errors which resulted in two of Mesa’s four runs being unearned.
SWOSU out hit Mesa 11-8. Glidewell and Creger each collected three hits apiece. Creger hit her first home run of the season but it came with no runners on base. SWOSU ended the game leaving 10 runners on base while Mesa left just six.
In the finale, Strickland put together a dominating effort on the mound tossing a two-hit shutout in a 7-0 win against Nebraska Kearney. Strickland mowed down UNK four times in the game where she allowed no base runners. Her record moved to 2-2 with the win.
Offensively, Megan McGill had three hits and three runs as the Bulldogs ran wild on the base paths. McGill stole two bases and SWOSU ended the game with seven as a team.