Feb. 16, 2008
Stanford Box Score
Wichita State Box Score
Stanford, Calif. - The Pacific softball team's early season struggles continued on Saturday, Feb. 16, as they dropped a pair of contests at the Stanford Invitational, falling to No. 13/14 ranked Stanford, 16-2, before dropping a 5-4, extra inning, contest to Wichita State. The pair of losses dropped the Tigers to 2-6 on the season.
The Tigers first game of the day against Stanford did not go well for Pacific as the nationally ranked Cardinal took it to the Tigers from the first inning on, completing a 16-2 win over Pacific in just five innings. It marked the fifth time this season, all at home, that the Cardinal run-ruled their opponent and the first time this season the Tigers have been stopped early.
In the top of the first, Pacific got on the board against All-Pacific 10 pitcher Missy Penna on a two-run homerun by senior Alyce Jorgensen (Los Altos, Calif.) after an opening single by freshman Lindsey Pierce (Camarillo, Calif.). The pair of runs marked the first time this season Penna had been tagged for scores, however, the strong offensive start would not be enough to propel Pacific to the win.
After posting two in the first, the Tigers gave up seven runs in the bottom half of the inning as Jorgensen lasted just two-thirds of an inning while giving up six hits. All of Jorgensen's run were earned in the outing and all came after the Tigers had recorded the first two outs of the inning. The Cardinal sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning and knocked Jorgensen out of the game for sophomore Heidi Helberg (Brentwood, Calif.).
The Cardinal would tack on four runs in both the second and the third innings to take a commanding lead before closing out the game with a single run in the fourth inning to pick up the 14 run lead. Helberg was saddled with the first four runs of the final nine while sophomore Briana Santos (Garden Grove, Calif.), seeing her first action from the circle this season, picked up the final five. Jorgensen was tabbed with the loss as she dropped to 0-3 on the season. After the opening inning for the Tigers, Pacific's bats would go quiet as Penna did not allow another hit en route to her sixth win of the season.
In the second game of the day for the Tigers, a familiar opponent would get the best of Pacific for the second straight day as the Shockers picked up another one run win over the Tigers, winning 5-4 in eight innings.
The Shockers jumped out on top of the Tigers immediately in the sequel to their battle on Friday afternoon, knocking out a lead off single against junior Chelsea Engle (Folsom, Calif.) and taking advantage of the strike zone to work a walk to set up the scoring opportunity. With two runners on base, Engle relinquished a two-RBI double to Heather Gerritse.
Down two, Pacific struck back in the top of the third inning to knot the score at 2-2. Junior Casey Goldsand (Scottsdale, Ariz.) continued her hot bat at the plate with a one out single up the middle to get the Tigers their first hit and baserunner of the game. With two outs, Pierce knocked a double down the left to put runners at second and third for junior Lauren Weyman (Carlsbad, Calif.) Weyman did not disappoint as she roped a single into centerfield that would score both Goldsand and Pierce.
Despite tying the game in the top of the third inning, Pacific would immediately relinquish the lead back to the Shockers in the bottom half of the inning, giving up a pair of runs to fall behind 4-2. The middle of Wichita State's order produced in the inning as Kara L'Huillier and Britnee Barnett led the inning off with back-to-back singles and then came around to score on another two-RBI double by Gerritse into right-center.
The Tigers would cut the two run deficit in half in the top of the fifth inning, taking advantage of a defensive miscue by the Shockers to get the leadoff runner on base in Goldsand. Trying to keep up with Gerritse, Weyman stepped to the plate and knocked a one out single into centerfield for the second straight at bat, plating Goldsand in the process.
In the seventh the Tigers would finally erase the final run of their deficit, plating a solo run in their last efforts of regular inning play. Pierce led the inning off with a triple down the leftfield line to put the Tigers in position to tie the game. After two straight unproductive outs, sophomore Kellee Wilson (Tracy, Calif.) delivered a clutch single into leftfield tying the game at 4-4.
Pacific would send the game into extra innings by shutting down the Shockers in the bottom half of the seventh, but, after stranding the international tie-breaking runner at second in the eighth, the Tigers would give up the game-winner in the eighth to fall to Wichita State.
Engle was charged with her second loss of the season to fall to 1-2 on the year as she gave up five hits and four earned runs in 7.2 innings of work while walking four and striking out five. Ashly Bright picked up the win for Wichita State despite giving up nine hits to the Tigers. However, Bright struck out 10 in the game without giving up a single walk.
Pacific will close out the Stanford Invitational with a single game against Santa Clara tomorrow, Sunday, February 17 at Smith Family Field. The game is scheduled for 11:00 am.
