March 10, 2006

Final Stats

Rock Hill, S.C. - Trailing by three runs, Western Carolina loaded the bases with no outs in the top half of the seventh inning but could only manage to plate one run, falling to the homestanding Winthrop Eagles, 6-4, on Friday afternoon in its opening game of the 2006 adidas/Winthrop Invitational.

Junior Nikki Bost drew a six-pitch walk, working a full count to earn the free pass. She was moved to third after back-to-back singles to left field by sophomore Heather Pritchard and freshman Allyson McCubbins. Two batters later, sophomore Savannah Filley blasted one to the left center gap and it appeared as if she would tally the second grand slam in school history. However, the howling winds blowing in from right center thwarted the effort, turning the would-be slam into a sacrifice fly for the second out, plating Bost, with the game ending one batter later with a strikeout.

Western fell behind in the bottom of the fourth, giving up two runs on two hits to trail 2-0 after four played. But the Catamounts rallied half an inning later to pull ahead, 3-2. Freshman Beth Hauser led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Bost. Pritchard also drew the base on balls, and the two were scored on a three-run home run to left field by McCubbins. On the day, McCubbins led WCU going 2-for-3 with three RBI and drew a walk.

The Catamounts' lead was short-lived, though, as the Eagles put four across in the bottom of the fifth then held on for the victory.

Freshman Lauren Ross earned her first collegiate start, throwing three scoreless innings while only surrendering one hit and striking out three, walking none. Filley (2-5), who came on in relief at the start of the fourth inning, was saddled with the loss after giving up six runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits with two strikeouts. Freshman Jenny Jackson also threw an inning and a third in the loss, giving up three hits and walking one.

Western returns to action at 6:00 pm in tournament pool play, facing the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs.