Temple University Athletics
Bats Stay Hot, but Owls Fall, 11-8, to Virginia
2.17.07 | Softball
Feb. 17, 2007
TUCSON, AZ - Krystle Metzler's three-run homerun in the top of the fifth inning tied the score at six apiece before Virginia (5-3) responded with five runs in bottom half en route to an 11-8 win over Temple (0-3) Saturday morning at Hillenbrand Stadium in day two of the Worth Wildcat Tournament.
Owls freshman hurler Ashley Smuda (0-3) allowed just two earned runs in five and two-thirds innings of work as the Cherry and White committed a season-high five errors. Cavalier senior pitcher Coty Tolar (2-1) last five and two-thirds innings, as well, for the win.
For the second time in three outings this season, the Owls used the top half of the first inning to take a lead. Senior first baseman Adrienne Repsher, who homered twice in Friday's 12-11 marathon loss to Middle Tennessee State and now ranks in a tie for third all-time with 11 career homeruns (Bari Lynn Pflueger, 2000-03), knocked in senior shortstop Jessica Rohn with an RBI double as the Cherry and White took a 1-0 advantage.
Virginia responded in the bottom half of the first after freshman Kelly Haller's double scored senior Amy McKean as a result of a throwing error by Rohn.
The Cherry and White regained the lead in the top of the second following junior Anna Rico's run-scoring single that easily plated sophomore Nicole Lee. Junior Amanda Carver, looking to give the Owls a two-run lead behind Lee, was gunned down at the plate. Virginia then took advantage of two more Temple throwing errors, that scored senior Meghan O'Leary and freshman Nicole Koren, and an RBI double from Haller in retaking the lead, 4-2.
After Repsher reached on a fielder's choice in the third, Metzler, making her third start in three games in the outfield for second-year head coach Casey Dickson, plated the veteran first baseman with an RBI single that cut the Cavalier lead to one run at 4-3. However, in classic cat-and-mouse fashion, junior Lindsey Preuss led off the Virginia half of the third with a triple and would then score in front of freshman Sarah Tacke following a Brooke Sorber two-run double that supplied the Cavs with a 6-3 advantage.
Following a scoreless fourth frame on both ends, a fielding error and wild pitch positioned Repsher and Friday's standout, sophomore Courtney Norene, at third and second base, respectively, before Metzler launched the game-tying homerun, the first of her career as an Owl. The Cherry and White continued to threaten the Wahoos, but Rico left sophomore Katie Burdeaux stranded just sixty feet from home plate.
With two outs and runners on first and second base in the bottom of the fifth, the Owls looked primed to carry a 6-6 game into their offensive half of the sixth. But, Virginia's Haller struck again this time with a bases-loaded, two-run double that actually plated three runners, O'Leary, senior Elea Crockett and senior Michelle Salmiery, after another Temple throwing miscue. Virginia added to their lead after Haller scored on a two-base error and McKean singled to plate freshman Abby Snyder.
Looking to replicate Friday's late-innings comeback against the Raiders, Metzler knocked in her fifth run of the morning after a single scored Repsher. Temple cut into the lead further, at 11-8, but wouldn't score again after a Burdeaux single and a Virginia error scored Norene.
Consistent with their offensive improvement as a team last season, for the second time in three games, the Owls eclipsed the double-digit hit pleateau, following 13 in the first half of Friday's double-header, with 12 against the Cavaliers. Continuing to see the ball well out of Dickson's three-hole, Repsher went 2-for-4 at the plate while scoring a team-high three runs. In addition to tossing a third of an inning in relief of Smuda, Burdeaux quietly turned in a 3-for-3 performance offensively.
The Owls will look to snap their early-season three game slide at 3:00 p.m. EST against Texas Tech in their fourth game of the Worth Wildcat Tournament.
