Owls Swept by Stetson

Saturday, April 8

DeLand, Fla.

1:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Stetson

4/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball

April 8, 2006

DELAND, FL - The Florida Atlantic University softball team suffered a sweep at the hands of Stetson University for the second consecutive year 3-1 and 4-3 in Atlantic Sun Conference play on Saturday at Stetson Softball Field in DeLand, Fla.

Game One: Stetson 2, Florida Atlantic 1

Final Stats

The Owls threatened in the first inning, getting back-to-back singles from senior Jessica Sachs (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.) and junior Jenna Lopez (Orangeburg, N.Y.) to open the game. Despite a sacrifice bunt by junior Shauna Corso (Seal Beach, Calif.) to advance both runners, Florida Atlantic could not capitalize against freshman pitcher Erica Demers, who set down the next two batters swinging.

Stetson took advantage of consecutive singles from Shawna Wiggs and Sherrel Fountain to open its half of the first, pushing across its lone runs of the game as both scored. Fountain drove Wiggs in from second base on her single to left, while Fountain reached home on an error on a grounder off the bat of Melissa Wiggins.

Florida Atlantic put its run on the board during its second threat, which started in the fifth inning after sophomore Melissa Moore (Miami, Fla.) led off with a double to left center. A sacrifice by classmate Charlotte Baird (Hendersonville, Tenn.) moved pinch runner Christine Houghtaling (Miami, Fla.) to third base.

One out and a walk later, Corso delivered an RBI single up the middle. Freshman Amy Bukovich (Boca Raton, Fla.) gave the Owls one final chance in the sixth with her one-out double but could not advance when the next two batters went down on infield outs.

Freshman Kathryn Stauffer (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) went the distance, allowing two runs but just one earned on six hits while walking none. She is now 6-13 on the season.

Lopez had two of FAU's seven hits off Demers, who walked one and struck out four in moving to 18-2 on the season.

Game Two: Stetson 4, Florida Atlantic 3

Final Stats

A dramatic seventh inning eventually cleared the way to the Hatters' sweep. With the Owls trailing 3-1 and down to their final two outs, Sachs hit a two-run home run to tie the game.

Wiggins then ended the game with a walk-off solo shot over the leftfield fence for Stetson (31-9, 6-0 A-Sun). The blast was the 41st of her career.

The door first opened for Stetson in the second inning when a wind-aided double by Andrea Migliori and single by Nicole Forbes put runners on first and third with no outs. Two popouts later, Teri Lake pushed a double into right center to score both runners, giving Stetson a 2-0 lead at the end of two.

A two-out opportunity created by a Lopez single and a Corso hit-by-pitch in the third inning went for naught. Both runners moved up on a passed bat but were left stranded on a strikeout.

An error and passed ball with two outs in the fourth put Bukovich on second base. The freshman then crossed home plate with Florida Atlantic's first run of the game when Houghtaling drove a single into left center.

Stetson put two runners into scoring position with one out in their half of the fifth. Junior pitcher Meghan Doonan (Wallingford, Conn.) shut the door, forcing consecutive pop-ups to end the inning.

The Hatters came back in the sixth to score their next run when FAU committed two errors. Wiggs reached on a dropped throw at first base; she scored from second on a two-out single to the hole between first and second when the ball was kicked into foul territory.

Doonan (3-1) struck out three and gave up three earned runs in going the distance for FAU. Lopez had two more hits in the nightcap.

Heather Colding (8-5) set down five Owls via the strikeout and walked none. Just one of her runs allowed was earned.

Florida Atlantic (17-21, 4-4 A-Sun) has a six-game conference road trip in Tennessee over Easter weekend, beginning Thursday at 2:00 p.m. with a doubleheader against East Tennessee State in Johnson City.