April 1, 2007

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - Sophomore pitcher Lauren Ross recorded her first complete-game shutout of the season as the Western Carolina softball team defeated Elon 6-0 Sunday at East Field. The Catamounts improve to 15-22 overall and 2-4 in the Southern Conference, while the Phoenix fall to 21-16 and 5-1 in conference play.

Ross tossed seven innings, allowing three hits and striking out five and improves to 7-6 on the season. Elon could only produce two hits to the outfield against Ross in the course of the game.

A pair of walks given up by Elon pitcher Melanie Helterbran set up the first run of the game for Western Carolina. With one out, Danielle Reese drew the first walk in the third inning and advanced to second thanks to a perfect sacrifice bunt by Mendy McKenzie. After Nikki Bost walked to put runners at first and second Stephanie Beatty singled to the left side to score Reese.

The Catamounts caught a break in the bottom of the third inning. Ross gave up two walks to start the inning and then had a wild pitch to move Tracey Dahlen and Debbi Zeigler to second and third. Ross settled down and forced Helterbran to ground out to the first baseman and Jamie Rao to strike out. Laurin Smith came up and knocked a sharply hit ball toward the shortstop but the ball struck Zeigler, who was moving to third, and was called out due to runner's interference.

Elon threatened again in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, the Phoenix's Rao hit a ball to the fence in left center field for a double. It was only the second hit to the outfield Ross had given up. With two outs, Ross walked Jaymie Shanahan to put runners on the corners. Ross got out of the jam when she forced Patti Weber to line out to the shortstop.

A tight game was blown open in the top of the seventh inning by the Catamounts. Mollie Fowler led off the inning by drawing a walk and stole her first base of the season. Jamie Swank followed with a single to centerfield that moved Fowler to third. Swank then stole second to place runners at second and third. Heather Pritchard hit a bunt single that scored Fowler for the first run of the game. Reese hit an RBI single to right field and then advanced to second on the throw which scored Swank and moved Pritchard to third. In yet another bizarre play in the series, McKenzie singled to the shortstop, who froze with the ball in her hand. The play allowed Pritchard to score and then as the Elon player attempted to throw the ball to second, it sailed over the second baseman's head and into right field. The error scored Reese and McKenzie moved all the way to third base. A ground out by Stephanie Beatty to the shortstop scored McKenzie. Western Carolina scored five runs on four hits in the inning and had seven total hits in the game.

Western Carolina returns to action on Tuesday when the team travels to Winston-Salem to take on Winston-Salem State. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 2 p.m.