Purdue Fort Wayne
Souther Utah
Cronin's Shutout Leads IPFW Over Southern Utah
3/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 21, 2009
Cedar City, UT - The IPFW Mastodons avoided a season sweep by Southern Utah by shutting out the potent Thunderbird offense, winning 5-0 in the third game of the Summit League series.
Rachel Staschuk and Kristina Karpun led the way for the `Dons, as the pair had five of the team's eight hits in the game, as freshman pitcher Courtney Cronin pitched the entire seven innings, striking out six and scattering five hits.
Each team started the game with a 1-2-3 first inning, before Karpun broke the deadlock with a solo home run to left field with one out in the second inning, providing the eventual game-winning run.
Southern Utah threatened in the bottom of the second inning, as the first two batters, Darlene Fernandez and Shannon Lum both walked, before Carrico struck out Natalie McBurney. Caroline Fernandez reached on a fielder's choice, as younger sister Darlene was out on the play at third, before Stephanie DeJesus hit a slap-single, loading the bases with two outs in the frame; however, DeJesus was caught napping at first base, as she was picked off when catcher Karpun's throw to first baseman Staschuk tagged out DeJesus as she dove back to the bag.
The Mastodons tagged on three more runs in the fourth inning, as Staschuk and Cassie Wolfe hit back-to-back singles, before Karpun walked to load the bases with no one out. Following a pop-up by Beatrice Pedraza, Ashley Carrico was hit in the arm by the pitch, scoring Staschuk, and earning her first collegiate RBI. Heather Genovese followed by grounding to the Thunderbird third baseman, Darlene Fernandez, whose throw home was not in time to force out Wolfe, and keeping the bases loaded with no outs. After a strikeout, Kaylee Faurote walked, scoring Karpun, and giving the `Dons a 4-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, the Thunderbirds had a runner reach third base with two outs, before DeJesus struck out to end the threat.
A Staschuk single in the sixth inning scored Faurote, giving the game its 5-0 final score. Five different players had hits for the Mastodons, as Faurote, Darby Pearson, and Wolfe joined Staschuk and Karpun with hits.
Karpun scored twice, as each of the team's five RBI's came from five different batters.
Southern Utah was led by Norian James who was 2-for-3 at the plate, while Darlene Fernandez, Caroline Fernandez, and DeJesus each recorded a hit. Kristina Brooks, the winner of the first two games of the series, picked up the loss, pitching three and two thirds of an inning, striking out four while walking two, giving up four hits and allowing four runs, all earned. Katie Kearns came in to relieve Brooks in the fourth inning, pitching the final three and two-thirds inning, scattering four hits and allowing just one run.
The `Dons take back to the road on Tuesday, March 24, when the team travels north to Detroit, Michigan, to take on the Detroit Titans, with the first pitch of the double header set for 3:00 PM.
~Dons~
