Trojan News

05.22.2010  |  Softball  |  Viewed 477 times
Box Score
DECATUR, Ala. - No. 17 Trevecca (43-15) defeated Notre Dame College of Ohio (25-26) 3-2 in Pool B of the 30th Annual NAIA National Tournament on Saturday.

The Falcons scored first, as Melissa Dykes walked and later scored on an infield hit off the bat of Felisha Jones in the bottom of the second. But the Trojans answered right back in the top of the third. Brooke Brennan led off with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kelsey Lantrip, and later scored on a triple to deep center field by Karli Rush.

Trevecca NAIA Tournament Notes

City Paper GM 2 Recap  |

The Trojans took their first lead of the day in the fifth, taking advantage of two Falcon errors to push across their second run of the day. After a two-out walk to Karli Rush, Monica West hit a ground ball to third base. Third baseman Melissa Dykes' throw to first base was off-line and ended up down the right field line. Rush rounded third on the error, thinking about scoring, but held up on right fielder Charisse Colston's throw. However, Colston's throw hit catcher Nicole Spehar's mask, which was on the ground, and skipped away, allowing Rush to score the go-ahead run. Notre Dame quickly bounced back to tie the game at two in the bottom of the inning, as Mallory Harder's infield single plated Felisha Jones, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

But once again, the Trojans rebounded taking the lead in the top of the sixth for good. And as they've done for much of the year, they did it with the long ball. Melinda Patterson took a 1-2 pitch from Ashley Harbarger and deposited it over the right field fence to give the Trojans a 3-2 lead.

Patterson's home run, just her second of the year, pushed Trevecca's home run total to a record 70 on the season.

Lauren Baker (20-8) did the rest, only allowing one baserunner over the final two innings to finish up her 20th win of the season. West, Rush, and Baker had two hits apiece to lead the offense, in addition to Patterson's home run.

With her 20th win, Trevecca now has two pitchers with 20-win seasons for the first time in school history. Riley Mashburn is 23-7. Mashburn in fifth on Trevecca's single season win total and Baker is now seventh.

Mashburn (28) and Baker (27) are second and third in Trevecca history for complete games in a season.

'Lauren did a great job today of keeping us in the ballgame, and obviously Melinda's home run and Karli's triple were huge," said Coach Ben Tyree. "We just kept fighting, and got ourselves a hard-earned win against a good team."

The win puts the Trojans at 2-0 in pool play, heading into their third and final game of pool play against No. 2 Lee (57-4, also 2-0 in pool play) Monday afternoon at 4:30. The winner of that game moves on to the double-elimination championship bracket, with their first game being at 9 p.m. Monday night.