Drexel University Athletics
Friday, February 21
Conway, Ark.
11:15 a.m.
Drexel University
1-4
13
vs
3
Alabama State
1-9
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Alabama State
0
0
0
2
1
3
2
3
Drexel
3
0
6
4
X
13
9
2
Softball Gets First Win of 2014 in Central Arkansas Tournament
2/21/2014 2:44:00 PM | Softball
CONWAY, Ark. - The Drexel softball team scored three runs in the first inning and did not look back, as the Dragons got their first victory of the season on Friday, 13-3 over Alabama State in the Central Arkansas Tournament. Leticia Matsuoka drove in five runs and Ellen Scott hit her first-career home run as the Dragons built a 10-run lead that ended the game after four-and-a-half innings.
The Dragons then nearly pulled out a dramatic victory in their second game of the day, scoring twice in the seventh inning to send their matchup with Arkansas-Pine Bluff to extra innings. Pine Bluff scored twice in the eighth, and Drexel loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but could push just one run across as it fell, 10-9.
The Dragons (1-5) got just two singles in the bottom of the first inning against Alabama State, but they took advantage of a walk and two errors on the same play to score three times. With two outs and no one on, Matsuoka drew a walk, then stole second base. Kim Chan's single laced through the right side drove home Matsuoka with the first run. Up stepped starting pitcher Shelby Taylor, whose grounder to shortstop should have ended the inning. However, Alabama State's shortstop threw the ball away, allowing Taylor to reach safely. As the first baseman recovered the ball, Chan was racing around to third base. First baseman Meagan Dixon tried to throw across the diamond to nail Chan at third, but she too threw the ball away, allowing Chan to score and Taylor to move up to second base. She scored moments later on a Comfort Ahonkhai single through the right side.
After a quiet second inning, things went from bad to worse for Alabama State (1-9) as 12 Dragons came to the plate and six runs scored. The big blast came off the bat of Scott, who made 46 appearances as a freshman but did not hit a home run. On Friday, that changed as the sophomore crushed a three-run shot to left-center, scoring Chan and Taylor.
Rose Portiolli followed with a walk, and was pinch run for by Lara Horwitz. Vanessa Lightfoot singled and Liona Newton walked. After she was picked off, Karli Boyer was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. A wild pitch then plated Horwitz, and Matsuoka followed with a double to the gap in left-center, scoring Lightfoot and Baeley Reed, who had pinch run.
In the fourth inning, three more runs were pushed across when Matsuoka smoked a triple down the right field line, scoring Reed, Bianca Iamurri and Lightfoot. Kim Chan singled home Matsuoka with the Dragons' 13th and final run. Alabama State had scored two in the top of the inning, and added another in the fifth, but Drexel's 10-run lead was enough to end the game and give Drexel its first victory of the season.
Taylor, who pitched the first four-plus innings on Friday, gave up just one hit and one earned run, striking out nine.
In the second game, Baeley Reed had four hits including a double, sparking the offense at the top of the order and scoring four runs. Reed's one-out double set the stage for a two-run rally in the seventh inning after the Dragons, who had led 5-2 early in the game, had fallen behind 8-6. Reed and Matsuoka, who had walked, scored on an error to knot the score and send the game to an eighth inning.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff scored twice in the eighth inning to take a 10-8 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Dragons loaded the bases with no one out after Ahonkhai was placed on second base to start the inning and Boyer and Rose Portiolli singled. With one out, Lightfoot lined a single to left field that scored Ahonkhai, but was hit too hard for Boyer to try to come home. This time, though, Reed's grounder to short turned into a fielder's choice that threw Boyer out at home, ending the game with the Dragons falling by one.
Drexel will continue play at the Central Arkansas Tournament against the hosts at 3:45 p.m. The Dragons will also play Western Illinois on Sunday morning.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Taylor, Shelby (1-2)
L: R Mills (0-0)
Batting:
RBI: Y Ducoing 1
Base Running:
RUNS: D Nelson 1 ; Y Ducoing 1 ; R Walker 1
SB: V Centeno 2 ; R Walker 1
HBP: D Nelson 1 ; Y Ducoing 1
Batting:
2B: Matsuoka, Leticia 1
3B: Matsuoka, Leticia 1
HR: Scott, Ellen 1
RBI: Matsuoka, Leticia 5 ; Chan, Kimberly 2 ; Scott, Ellen 2
SH: Lightfoot, Vanessa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Iamurri, Bianca 1 ; Reed, Baeley 2 ; Matsuoka, Leticia 2 ; Chan, Kimberly 2 ; Taylor, Shelby 2 ; Scott, Ellen 1 ; Lightfoot, Vanessa 2 ; Horwitz, Lara 1
SB: Matsuoka, Leticia 1 ; Ahonkhai, Comfort 1
HBP: Boyer, Karli 1 ; Chan, Kimberly 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
5
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
p/dh
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
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