March 10, 2006
BOX SCORE
HONOLULU, Hawaii. – Longwood University, playing its third softball game at the Hawaiian Airlines Spring Fling Tournament on Friday, dropped a 2-1 decision to Big 10 Conference member Penn State. The Lancers now hold a 9-10 overall record, while the Nittany Lions improved to 13-3 on the season. LU will close out the tournament on Saturday, March 11 when its faces off against UC-Santa Barbara (3:00 p.m. ET) and Detroit Mercy (7:00 p.m. ET).
Longwood scored one run in the bottom of the second inning to break the scoreless tie and gain the lead. Junior catcher/outfielder Pepper Wilson/Mechanicsville (Lee-Davis) started the inning off with a single to right field. Junior first baseman Tori Flint/Charlottesville (Albemarle County) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Wilson over to second base and then senior second baseman Mallory Gordon/Powhatan (Powhatan) hit a hard shot to the shortstop, which was able to advance Wilson to third base. With two outs, freshman catcher Emily Radford/Tacoma, Wash. (Fife) came up to bat and hit a single to second base that scored Wilson and gave the Lancers the lead.
Penn State tied the game in the top of the third inning when Jen Williams singled to center field to score Jenn Reynolds.
Longwood had a chance to break the tie in the bottom half of the third, but with sophomore outfielder Caitlin Hooe/Richmond (Douglas Freeman) on third base and sophomore Ryan Washington/Bealeton (Liberty) on second base with two outs, Wilson struck out swinging.
The Nittany Lions scored the eventual winning run in the top of the fifth. Destinie Chavez started the inning off with a walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Meghan Wolfer. Chavez then advanced to third on a wild pitch by sophomore pitcher Rachel Mills/Quinton (New Kent County) and scored on a throwing error by Radford.
Mills took the loss for Longwood, giving up two runs, one of which was earned, on six hits, while striking out two and walking one.
Ashley Esparaza earned the pitching win for Penn State. She entered the game in relief in the bottom of the third and shut down the Lancers, giving up no hits while striking out seven.
