TROY and FIU Split on Saturday

Saturday, April 2

Miami, FL

4:00 p.m.

Troy University

Florida International University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

4/2/2011 7:54:26 PM | Softball

Trojans battle back to take the nightcap and end conference losing streak

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score (Game One) :: Box Score (Game Two)

MIAMI (TroyTrojans.com) – FIU and Troy battled for 17 innings on Saturday in Sun Belt Conference play, splitting a doubleheader at the FIU Softball Complex. FIU won the first game 3-0, while the Trojans were able to win the second game 6-5 in 10 innings. The win ended a six-game conference losing streak for TROY.

Troy (21-17, 2-6 Sun Belt) and FIU (20-16, 6-2 Sun Belt) will meet on Sunday in the final game of the series, with first pitch scheduled for 12 noon (EST) at the FIU Softball Complex. Live stats and live video will provided for the final game of the Sun Belt Conference series.

FIU 3, TROY 0 (Game One)
The Trojans and FIU battled through the first five innings as Ashlyn Williams and Jenn Gniadek locked in a scoreless pitcher's duel. However, the Golden Panthers struck in the bottom of the sixth off of Williams (8-11) as they scored all three of their runs in the inning.

Jenny Welch led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single through the left side, before Jackie Tetlow reached on a fielding error by TROY second baseman Sarah Shields to put runners at first and second with one out in the inning.

After pair of pinch runners were inserted into the contest for the Golden Panthers, Alex Casals popped up to Shields for what would have been the third out of the inning. Instead, Jessy Alfonso connected on a 2-2 pitch; driving the ball to left and just over the head of Kortney Cooper. The ball hit the top of the fence and bounced over, giving FIU a 3-0 lead.

Jenn Gniadek (8-8) picked up the win for FIU, going seven inning and allowing just three hits while striking out six for FIU. Williams suffered the loss, giving up seven hits in six innings of work; while allowing no earned runs and striking out four.

Although the Trojans were held to just three hits, they put runners in scoring position in the first inning (with two outs), second inning (with one out) and the sixth inning (with two outs after a double plau).

TROY 6, FIU 5 (10 innings) (Game Two)
After battling through nine innings, the Trojans were able to push the winning run across with a squeeze play in the top of the 10th inning, as Kortney Cooper laid the bunt down the first baseline allowing Sarah Harris to slide in under the tag. The Trojans were able to add a pair of insurance runs when Taylor Smartt singled to left, but the ball got past Erika Arcuri to score Cooper and Harris and give the Trojans a three-run lead.

However, the 10th inning would not have happened if not for the defensive play from Ashley Adkins in the bottom of the eighth inning. The senior fielded a single in right and came up throwing to get Brie Rojas at the plate and preserve the tie at 3-all and send the game to extra innings.

FIU got on the board first on a double from Beth Peller with one out in the inning; she advanced to third on a wild pitch from Morgan Grove and scored on another as Ashley McClain drew a one-out walk to put FIU up 1-0. The Trojans got out of the inning when Nikki Hollett made a diving stab of a ball hit up the middle off the bat of Kayla Burri to end the inning.

The second inning was the same story for the Trojans as Michelle Hewett led off the inning with a single past a diving Jessy Alfonso at third. The junior centerfielder stole second on the very next pitch and advanced to third on a fly out to right off the bat of Sarah Harris. She would eventually score when Sarah Shields hit a triple down the leftfield line – the first of her career – to tie contest at 1-all.

The run by the Trojans in the first ended a strong of 11 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the final game of the Louisiana (No. 18 NFCA/No. 19 ESPN) series.

The Trojans struck again in the third when Luquette beat out a hit to Kayla Burri at short, then advanced to second on a throwing error by Burri on the same play. She advanced to third and scored on a Hollett sacrifice fly to the warning track in left; giving TROY a 2-1 lead. TROY extended the lead in the top of the fourth inning when Harris hit her second home run in as many weekends to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead.

FIU came right back in the bottom of the fourth inning when McClain beat out an infield single to Shields and moved to second on a single by Brie Rojas. McClain moved to third on a fly out to right by Burri, before Rojas stole second to put two runners in scoring position with one out in the inning. The Golden Panthers loaded the bases with two out when Rachel Slowik drew a two-out walk. However, a Jackie Tetlow line drive was snared by Shields at second to end the inning for the Trojans.

McClain made things interesting in the bottom of the sixth inning with a lead-off home run off of Ashlyn Williams – who came on in relief of Grove in the bottom of the fifth inning – to pull FIU to within 3-2. The Golden Panthers kept the pressure on in the bottom of the sixth inning for the second consecutive contest as Burri singled to left with one out; followed by a single off the bat of Jenny Welch through the left side to put runners at first and second with just one out in the inning. However, the Trojans were able to get out of the inning without any other damage to take a one-run lead into the seventh inning.

The Golden Panthers struck again in the bottom of the seventh to tie the contest as Jessy Alfonso went deep for the second time off of Williams on the day; tying the contest at 3-all with one out in the inning. FIU appeared to have the game-winner come off the bat of McClain with two outs in the inning as she drove a ball deep to center, but Michelle Hewett was able to haul it in on the warning track to send the games to extra innings.

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