Owls Rally for Split with Kennesaw State

Saturday, April 1

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Kennesaw State

4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball

April 1, 2006

Final Stats

BOCA RATON, FL - Late-inning rallies marked both games as the Florida Atlantic University softball team split an Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader with Kennesaw State on Saturday evening at FAU Softball Stadium.

Kennesaw State scored six runs in the final three innings to overcome a 2-0 deficit and record a 6-2 victory in the opener. The Owls from Georgia, batting .317 as a team coming into the game, collected nine hits, including eight after the fourth inning, and took advantage of four errors by FAU.

The teams went scoreless until the bottom of the third inning, when Florida Atlantic made some two-out magic. Senior Jessica Sachs (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.) and junior Jenna Lopez (Orangeburg, N.Y.) reached with back-to-back singles into leftfield.

The no. 1 and 2 hitters in FAU's line-up, Sachs and Lopez advanced one base each on a wild pitch off the arm of Lisa Lamb. Junior Shauna Corso (Seal Beach, Calif.) then slapped a single to shortstop that scored both runs, leading to a 2-0 advantage for the Owls from Florida.

Kennesaw responded with its first blows of the night in the fifth. A single by Norie Glazebrook and walk to Amanda Malcom put two on with one out in the inning, and April Keasler followed with a single to left.

Freshman leftfielder Becky Brandies (Madison, Fla.) misplayed Keasler's single, allowing Glazebrook and Malcom to score on the play when the ball rolled to the wall. The runs ended streaks of 18 1/3 scoreless innings and 23 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run for freshman hurler Kathryn Stauffer (Pembroke Pines, Fla.).

Kennesaw State broke the 2-2 tie during its next series of at-bats when Jen Nolan lifted a two-out offering from Stauffer (6-12) over the leftfield foul poll for her team-leading eighth home run of the year. An error by Stauffer with two outs in the seventh led to three unearned runs and set the final margin.

Stauffer threw the complete game, giving up six runs but just two earned. Andrea Moss (3-3) got the win in relief, striking out four and allowing just one hit in 2 2/3 innings.

Corso and Lopez had two hits each for Florida Atlantic. Keri McKee joined Nolan with multiple hits for KSU and had one run and one RBI in the game.

Game 2: Florida Atlantic 8, Kennesaw State 4

Final Stats

In the nightcap Florida Atlantic put six runs on the board in the sixth inning to complete a comeback from a 4-1 deficit and take an 8-4 victory. The Owls from Florida batted around in the sixth, recording four hits and three walks.

Senior Danielle Arriaga (Miami, Fla.) opened the decisive inning with a walk, junior Mandie Fishback (Banks, Ore.) came up with a single and freshman Kala Guy (Hollywood, Fla.) loaded the bases with a walk to chase starter Brittany Matthews. Moss returned to the circle for her second relief appearance of the night and surrendered a sacrifice fly to freshman Amy Bukovich (Boca Raton, Fla.).

After a Melissa Moore (Miami, Fla.) walk, Fishback scored on an error by the catcher on a force out at the plate, knotting the score 4-4. An illegal pitch pushed across Guy with the go-ahead run and a bunt single by Sachs brought in Moore to make the score 6-4.

Consecutive singles by Lopez and Corso plated sophomore Charlotte Baird (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and Sachs, respectively, to end the scoring.

Nolan did all of the damage for KSU, blasting a three-run shot over the centerfield wall with two outs in the third. Earlier she had opened the second with a double and came home on a two-out single by Malcom to briefly make the score 1-0.

Florida Atlantic responded in the bottom of the second when a single by Guy and a double by Bukovich made the score 1-1. FAU also put a single tally on the board in the bottom of the third when Arriaga pushed a two-out double to right center to plate Sachs, who had led off the inning with a single.

Junior Meghan Doonan (Wallingford, Conn.) got the win in her second start of the year, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and striking out three in moving to 2-0 on the year. Matthews (10-4) took the loss, responsible for five runs on six hits and two walks in five innings.

Sachs keyed FAU's offense with three hits, two runs and an RBI. The junior finished the night with four hits and three runs and extended her hitting streak to 10 games, while Corso had three hits and three RBIs in the two games.

Nolan finished with two hits, two runs and three RBIs in the late game. She had four hits, three runs and five RBIs in the doubleheader for Kennesaw (26-13, 6-2 A-Sun).

Florida Atlantic (16-19, 4-2 A-Sun) begins a three-week road trip with a non-conference affair on Tuesday, April 4, traveling to Florida International for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch.