#3 Temple Wins A-10 Tournament Opener Over #6 Dayton, 7-2, Moves on to Face #2 Fordham

Wednesday, May 8

Amherst, Mass.

12:30 p.m.

Temple University

31-24

Dayton

22-23

Dayton

Temple University

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

#3 Temple Wins A-10 Tournament Opener Over #6 Dayton, 7-2, Moves on to Face #2 Fordham

5.8.13 | Softball

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. – Senior Ali Robinson hit a first inning homerun and junior Stephanie Pasquale clubbed a three-run single in the second to help Temple to a 5-0 second inning lead over Dayton in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Softball Tournament at Elaine Sortino Field on the Massachusetts campus on Wednesday afternoon. The third-seeded Owls (31-24) went on to defeat #6 Dayton (22-23), 7-2, and will now face #2 Fordham on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

Robinson sent a full-count pitch over the leftfield fence with one out in the top of the first to stake her team to a 1-0 lead. The homer was the 15^th of the season for Robinson, establishing a new Temple single-season standard.

The Cherry & White scored four runs in the second to take control of the contest. TU loaded the bases with a walk and a pair of singles before Sarah Prezioso's sacrifice fly scored Devynne Nelons. After Robinson was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Pasquale hit a two-run single through the right side that plated Annie Marcopolus and Lacey McKeon, along with Robinson, who came home on a fielding error on the relay.

Neither team would score for the next three innings before the Flyers recorded a pair of hits in the sixth to produce their first run of the game. Freshman pitcher Kelsey Dominik had scattered just three hits to that point, but issued a walk to open the sixth and then gave up a single to Rachel Archer. Both runners advanced a base on a fielding error on the play, and one out later, Kasi Vazquez doubled to drive in Carlyn Harlow.

Temple responded in the bottom of the frame when Dominik helped her own cause with a bases loaded single to left field that scored two for a 7-1 advantage. A pinch-hit RBI double from the bat of Alysha Isaacson gave the Flyers another run in the top of the seventh, but Kennedy Haynes lined out to first to record the third out and give TU the 7-2 victory, in the process tying the school record for wins in a season with 31.

Dominik (15-6) allowed eight hits and both runs in the complete-game victory. Emily Froment (8-5), who had beat the Owls 2-0 earlier in the season, took the loss in 3.2 innings of work, giving up six hits and five runs.

Pasquale, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, paced TU with a 3-for-3 day at the plate with two RBI. Robinson finished 2-for-3.

The win was the first opening round victory for Temple in the conference tournament since the 2007 season. The Owls will face second-seeded Fordham at 12:30 on Thursday. TU and the Rams split a pair of games less than a week ago with Temple winning 2-1 before Fordham took a 13-7 decision.

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