Temple University Athletics
SOFTBALL SPLITS WITH DAYTON ENDING HOPES FOR A-10 BID
4.29.05 | Softball
AMBLER, PA -- Sophomore Brandie Mora delivered a clutch two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Temple to a 4-3 win in the first game of a doubleheader against visiting Dayton, but the Flyers' Cassie Gross blasted a pair of home runs in the nightcap to give UD a split, ending the Owls' slim hopes for an Atlantic 10 Tournament berth.
With two outs in the third,
The Owls answered back in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Melissa McCartney singled to center to open the frame. Freshman Brittany Burks sacrificed her to second with sophomore Brandie Mora singling to left to put runners at the corners. Sophomore Adrienne Repsher then drove her team-leading 16th run with a single to left. Senior Laura Gutscher singled to load the bases before fellow senior Aida Esquer tied the game with a RBI single to center.
The game remained tied until the top of the sixth when the Flyers plated an unearned run off starter Richelle Villescas (14-18). Catcher Christine Vetter started the UD rally with a one-out singled to right. Villescas then struck out Ellie Malchow for her fifth strikeout of the game. Cortney Schafer then singled. Christine Eggers followed with a bloop single to center that Mora charged but was unable to come up with. The ball scooted away from her allowing Malchow to score the go-ahead run.
Junior Lauren Evans started the Owls' comeback in the seventh with a one-out single. Sophomore Kelly Swartwood then pinch-ran for Evans. McCartney then delivered her second hit of the game, a single to left, putting runners at first and second. Burks then grounded to second, but Malchow overthrew St.Clair at short to lead the bases. McCartney hurt her knee sliding into second on the play and had to leave the game.
Mora then delivered her game-winning blow, a double to left center scoring Swartwood and fellow pinch-runner Amanda Carver.
In the nightcap, Gross hit her team-high seventh homer to left with St. Clair on base to give Dayton a 2-0 lead in the first. The Owls tied it in the third with a RBI single by Mora and a RBI double by Repsher, who was 3-for-3 in game two.
Freshman pitcher Jen Nacianceno settled in after the homer to Gross in the first, retiring nine in a row during one stretch. Finally Gross connected for her second long ball to almost exactly the same spot in left field, to make it 3-2
Junior pitcher Melissa Myher (14-9), who tossed all 14 innings for UD, allowed just a Repsher single over the final two innings in recording the win.
Nacianceno struck out eight Flyers and allowed just four hits and one walk in dropping her record to 1-7 on the season.
The Owls close their season on Sunday with Senior Day against George Washington. The doubleheader begins at
