Feb. 23, 2008

Box Score

DeLand, Fla. - Bethune-Cookman University earned its first win of the season in softball on Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats defeated the University of South Alabama, 4-2 in the second game of second day action at the Hatter Classic hosted by Stetson University in nearby DeLand, Fla.

The road to success with the Baby Cats (nine true freshmen) under second-year head coach Chris Cochran has been long this year, but the first win came with sweet success for B-CU.

B-CU trailed 1-0 after the opening inning, but came back ferociously with a four-run outburst in the bottom-half of the second frame.

A serious two-out rally started off hot with a two-run scoring triple by freshman Liz Parrish and Sonya Urteaga. That put the Wildcats (1-12) up 3-1 until Tameika Jonas collected an RBI single to score Hinds from third.

With the Wildcats up 4-1, South Alabama (3-6) scored the game's final run of the contest in the top-half of the next frame when Jenny Stevens singled and later scored on a passed ball charged to the Wildcats.

The win went to Garcia who bumped her record to 1-7 on the year, while USA's Amanda Leggett dropped her record to 1-4. B-CU freshman Taryn Hernandez started the game as the pitcher of possible of record, but was relieved in the third inning before going to minimum number of frames to collect the win on the hill.

The hits were spread out amongst five Wildcats posting a single hit each, but it was Hinds' two-run triple that stood out amongst the others. Jonas and Holly Bussey also collected RBI hits for B-CU in the win. USA was led at the dish by Stevens and Autumn Hudson earning two hits a piece for the Jaguars.

After dropping a nail-biter against Stetson in the first game yesterday, the `Cats dropped yet another game to start Saturday's action against Southwestern Athletic Conference competitor Alabama State University. B-CU stood toe-to-toe with the Hornets of ASU to begin the game after a three-hour rain delay to start the day.

After ASU (1-12) jumped on the board first in the bottom of the first inning courtesy an error charged to the B-CU infield, the Hornets struck their biggest blow in the fourth frame.

With B-CU leaving runners stranded in scoring position in the top-half of the inning, the Hornets used speed and base running to score four in the bottom-half of the inning. The big strike, however, came with the runners on second and third as Ja'Vonna Grimsley connected on a pitch to take it over the left field wall for a three-run shot to put ASU on top 4-0.

The rest was history down the stretch as five B-CU hits went for not, though ASU connected on just six hits in the game--including the Grimsley homerun.

B-CU freshman pitcher Allison Garcia took the loss to move to 0-7 on the year, while ASU's Destinee Sanchez earned her first win of the year to go to 1-8. Garcia helped her own cause as the only Wildcat slugger with two hits in the game as she went 2-for-3 at the plate.

B-CU will play one more game in the Hatter Classic tomorrow back in DeLand as they will take on South Alabama once again beginning at 9 a.m. For complete Hatter Classic information, please log on to the Stetson University website at www.GoHatters.com.