Softball Edged By Western Illinois in UCA Tournament Finale

Sunday, February 23

Conway, Ark.

9:00 a.m.

Drexel University

2-6

Western Illinois

9-3

Western Illinois

Drexel

Softball Edged By Western Illinois in UCA Tournament Finale

2/23/2014 12:51:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. - The Drexel softball team finished a solid weekend at the Central Arkansas Tournament on Sunday morning, falling to Western Illinois, 4-3. The Dragons scored twice in the first inning, tying the score at two at the time. Neither team scored again until the seventh inning, when Western Illinois pushed two across and the Dragons answered with one, unable to plate the tying run.

Liana Newton and Kim Chan each had two hits and a run scored, with Chan adding an RBI in the first inning. Tara Konopka pitched a complete game for the Dragons (2-6), striking out six.

Western Illinois scored twice in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of a hit-by-pitch and an error to build a 2-0 lead. The Dragons quickly erased that, though, as Newton led off the bottom of the first with a double. Three batters later, Chan poked a single back through the middle, plating Newton. Chan took second on a throwing error, and scored when Shelby Taylor slashed a double down the left field line.

The pitching and defenses settled in from there, with neither team able to get anything going over the next five innings. Drexel managed just four hits over that span, including a double by Chan in the sixth. Konopka managed just one clean inning, but worked her way out of trouble deftly in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings. Western Illinois put a runner in scoring position in each of those frames.

In the seventh, WIU managed to plate some runs. Tierney Bottino's two-out single to the gap in right-center scored a pair for the Fighting Leathernecks.

The Dragons threatened in the bottom of the seventh, with Ellen Scott and Comfort Ahonkhai singling to start the inning. Both moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Newton, but were left at second and third with two outs after a groundout. Leticia Matsuoka, who had driven in nine runs already on the weekend, was denied a chance to play hero as Western Illinois pitched around her to load the bases. Up next was Chan, who also worked a walk to bring Drexel within a run with the bases still loaded. The threat would end there, though, as Taylor grounded out to end the game.

Drexel will get back to work at its third preseason tournament of the season next weekend at the Colonials Classic at George Washington. The Dragons will face Providence at 10:00 a.m. Friday to get that kicked off.