Feb. 29, 2008

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - In their first game of the Worth Invitational, hosted by Cal State Fullerton, the Pacific softball team fell to No. 5 Florida, 10-2, on Friday, February 29. The loss dropped the Tigers to 0-1 at the tournament and 5-10 on the year while the Gators improved to 21-1 on the season.

The Tigers fell behind early to the Gators as Florida got its first run of the day from the first batter into the box when Kim Waleszonia laced a triple into the gap in leftfield and scored on a fielding error in the outfield to put Florida up 1-0. The Gators continued to hit the ball hard in the second inning, this time posting a true homerun on a two-run blast off the bat of Tiffany DeFelice.

Down 2-1, the Tigers got on the board in the bottom half of the second, posting a single run to cut the Gators lead to just two runs. Freshman Nicole Matson (Castaic, Calif.) started the ball rolling for the Tigers, posting the first hit of the game for Pacific, with a single to leftfield. After moving to second on a fielder's choice, Matson scored the games first run on a ground-rule double from sophomore Karie Wilson (Glendale, Ariz). The double marked the first extra base hit of the season for Wilson along with her first RBI.

After a scoreless third, both teams posted a single run in the fourth inning. The Gators loaded the bases in the inning with one out, but were only able to score a single run on a wild pitch as senior Alyce Jorgensen (Los Altos, Calif.) was able to pitch her way out of the jam.

In the bottom half of the inning, sophomore Kellee Wilson (Tracy, Calif.) brought the Tigers back to within two with a solo shot down the leftfield line. The homerun marked the third of the season for the sophomore.

Down two would be as close as the Tigers would get in the contest to Florida as the hot hitting Gators opened up the game with a pair of runs over the final three innings to seal their 21st win of the year.

Jorgensen picked up the loss for the Tigers, dropping to 0-4 on the season as she gave up 11 hits and six runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings of work. For the Gators, Stephanie Bromba picked up her eight win of the year (8-0) as she gave up just the two runs while relinquishing seven hits and striking out seven in seven innings of work.

Pacific takes on Louisville in the second game of the day.