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Complete
Box Score
EDINBORO, PA -- The Edinboro University
softball team opened the PSAC Softball Tournament with a 1-0 loss
in eight innings to East Stroudsburg on Thursday. The PSAC
Tournament is being held at Kutztown.
The Fighting Scots, 19-19 and the second seed
out of the PSAC West, will now meet the third seed out of the
West, California(Pa.), at 10:00 a.m. on Friday in the consolation
round. The loser of that game will be eliminated. California(Pa.)
suffered a 5-0 loss to Bloomsburg on Thursday.
The extra inning loss to East Stroudsburg,
24-24 and the third seed out of the Eastern Division, marked
Edinboro's first PSAC playoff game since 1990. The Fighting Scots
were done in by the inability to come up with the key hit.
“We left too many people on base,”
lamented head coach Dan Gierlak. “We played too nervous. We
had our opportunities. We just didn't get the hit when we needed
to. We had the bases loaded with nobody out, and we didn't hit the
ball out of the infield.”
That occurred in the fifth inning, and
exemplified Edinboro's struggles. In all, the Fighting Scots
stranded 12 base runners. Ashleigh Smith led off the fifth with a
double. Alicia Gordon reached on a bunt single, with Smith moving
to third. It was the first of two singles for Gordon, who
previously was in a 1-for-35 slide.
Gordon stole second, and when Katelyn Gurgiolo
reached on a fielder's choice, the Fighting Scots had the bases
loaded with no one out and the heart of the order up. Vanessa Rose
reached on a fielder's choice after hitting a grounder to short,
with Smith thrown out at home. Dana Webb did the same thing, and
the threat was over when Mandie Iorfido popped out to East
Stroudsburg pitcher Kristen Halvorsen.
Edinboro also left two runners on base in the
fourth, seventh and eighth innings, stranding runners on third
base in the seventh and eighth. In the seventh inning Gordon
singled and was sacrificed to second. Rose reached on a walk, and
Gordon eventually moved to third, but was left there on a ground
out.
In the top of the eighth inning, Danielle Arno
walked to open the inning, and was sacrificed to second by Leanne
Carmichael. Jessica Lindamood doubled down the left field line,
but Arno was forced to stop at third. Smith and Gordon struck out
to end the threat.
East Stroudsburg finally pushed across a run in
the bottom of the eighth frame. Candice Pastor opened the inning
with a walk. Laura Snyder pinch ran and moved to third on a
sacrifice, then scored on Alianna Hale's single to left.
Rose was the hard-luck loser as the junior fell
to 13-13. She scattered ten hits, walked one batter, and struck
out eight. She broke Kathy Mazur's school record for strikeouts in
a season as she now has 191. Mazur struck out 189 in 1986.
Edinboro managed seven hits off Halvorsen. Arno
was 2-for-3 at the plate, while Lindamood and Gordon were 2-for-4.
However, the top four hitters in the Boro lineup combined to go
hitless in 12 at bats.
Edinboro's consolation game against
California(Pa.) takes on even greater significance with the
Fighting Scots ranked seventh in the Mid-Atlantic Region. With a
19-19 record, the Fighting Scots face a must-win situation to
remain alive for an NCAA Playoff berth. One of the criteria is a
.500 season record. The top eight teams are selected for the
regional.
Edinboro and California(Pa.) have met three
times this year, with the Scots winning two, including a 3-1 win
on Tuesday. |
