Katie Gaal
GoSycamores.Com
April 26, 2009
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? Add another victory to the Indiana State softball win column as the Sycamores (17-22, 9-11 MVC) completed the three-game sweep of the Evansville Purple Aces (12-31, 3-17 MVC) this afternoon at Price Field for their sixth win in their last seven tries and their fourth straight, the longest current winning streak in the conference. Senior pitcher Darcy Wood added nine more Ks to her record-breaking career total of 984 to move to closer to the 1,000 mark and junior Audrey Childress hit her team-leading fifth home run of the season to help Indiana State shut out the Aces 3-0.
In the first two innings with the Aces up to bat, Wood fanned four of the nine batters she faced and gave up zero hits to keep the visitors off the scoreboard. Offensively the Sycamores started out on a good note as they got two hits from Stephanie Robinson and Katie Armour but four pop-ups in two innings left both runners stranded.
In the third inning, the Aces threatened with a runner in scoring position on second with two outs. Designated player Kylie Wagner hit a deep fly ball to right field that would have guaranteed a run for Evansville but freshman right fielder Shonda Garringer made a great catch with an outstretched glove at the fence to retire the inning.
To start the bottom of the third inning with the bat in the Sycamores hands, Evansville pitcher Jennifer McKee struck out Kacy Kestner and forced Garringer into a groundout but a Robinson walk led to the first Sycamore run. With the runner on first, Armour smacked a two-out double to left center field that saw a speedy Robinson make her way all the way past home plate for a 1-0 Sycamore lead.
In the fourth and fifth innings, the Aces were held to just a single hit as Wood struck out an additional four batters to tally seven Ks thus far in the game.
Indiana State cushioned their lead in the sixth inning on a one-out home run from Childress who had an interesting at-bat. After Armour was walked for the fourth time in two days, Rachel McCleary came in to pinch run for her and advanced to second on a Britt Boyer sac-bunt. With Childress up to bat next, the count was one ball, one strike when Wagner was called for an illegal pitch sending McCleary to third and moving the count to two-and-one. Before the next pitch was thrown, Childress was called for a ten-second violation which means she was not ready to go in the batter's box when the pitcher was ready to throw. This moved the count to two balls and two strikes. Despite a visible disagreement with the umpires call, Childress remained undaunted as she said ?Bye Bye Birdie' to Wagner's next pitch that sailed over the outfield fence giving Indiana State a 3-0 lead.
Lissa Felhman popped out, Allison Aguilera struck out, and Amy Gaertner grounded out to Wood in the Aces final at-bat to end the game.
Wood upped her record to 10-12 after throwing her 14th complete game. A seven-inning three-hit shutout of the Aces gives Wood her sixth victory in her last seven starts. She struck out nine batters for a total of 196 strikeouts this season.
Armour went a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a single and a two-out RBI double to up her batting average to a stellar .436. Childress added the other two RBI on the day as her only hit came from her sixth-inning home run that sealed the victory for the Sycamores.
With today's win, Indiana State moves into seventh place in the Valley which means they currently qualify for the post-season tournament. They will look to secure their post-season bid at Bradley this Wednesday with a doubleheader slated for 2:00 p.m. EST. Their final conference games will be this upcoming weekend against Southern Illinois. The Sycamores will host the Salukis on Saturday at 12/2 p.m. EST and on Sunday at 12 p.m. EST.
