Feb. 13, 2010
Final Stats - Game 2
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman softball opened the 2010 season, Saturday afternoon, at the JU Tournament, facing off with UNC Greensboro and Virginia Tech. After carrying the lead much of the first game, B-CU suffered a late-inning surge by UNCG, falling 5-3. Against Va. Tech, the Wildcats couldn't keep up with the Hokies' offensive attack, falling 14-3 in the sixth inning.
“I thought we hit very well today,” said Head Coach Chris Cochran “We had people contributing throughout the order, and we never stopped working on offense.”
In the opening game of the day, UNC Greensboro got on the board first, with only a single run. The Wildcats quickly answered, tallying two in the top of the second, with the first score coming on freshman Allison Garcia in from third. The next batter up, Liz Parrish, smacked a double to left field, sending freshman Michelle Banuelos-Smith in for the first run of her collegiate career.
The teams battled it out defensively through the next two innings, with B-CU breaking the deadlock in the top of the fifth, as Liz Parrish again got on the board, putting a home run out of left field, taking a 3-1 B-CU lead.
However, UNCG opened up offensively in the bottom half of the inning, collecting three hits, creating the opportunity to score. UNCG put four runs on the board with three RBI, snagging a late 5-3 lead. UNCG held off B-CU in the top of the seventh, holding on to win 5-3 on the heels of the late rally.
Liz Parrish opened her season on a strong offensive note, leading with 2 hits and 2 RBI. Defensively, freshman first baseman led with 8 put outs in the game.
Allison Garcia (0-1) started and finished the game on the mound, collecting 2 strikeouts and allowing 2 earned runs.
Against Virginia Tech, the Wildcats could only generate one solid inning of offense, while struggling to shut down the Hokies' attack. VT scored in four of six innings, but dropped the kill stroke in the final two innings, closing out the game early.
Virginia Tech got on the board early, scoring two runs each in the first and third innings to take a 4-0 lead. However, B-CU started to get something going in the bottom of the third. After VT walked the leadoff batter, center fielder Allison Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing in freshman Aurelia Gamch across the plate for her first collegiate score. As VT closed out the inning, B-CU had brought the score to a close 4-3 game.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth, but Va. Tech opened up offensively, getting four hits, including one home run, which tallied five runs for the inning, taking a 9-3 lead. After holding B-CU scoreless, VT came back with another big inning, earning four more hits and five runs. Virginia Tech closed out B-CU in the bottom of the inning, ending the game with a 14-3 VT win.
Four Wildcats collected a single hit, led by Allison Garcia, Michelle Banuelos-Smith each had one putout apiece.
Pitching the entire game, Chastity Sanders started her first game of the season, collecting 3 strikeouts, but allowing 14 earned runs.
Opening the season 0-2 at the JU tournament, the Wildcats are moving forward with the weekend's tournament, continuing play on Sunday for a matchup with Drexel at 11:15 a.m. at the JU Softball Complex.
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