Kangaroos Scavenge A Pair Of 4-1 Wins Over IPFW

Saturday, April 5

Kansas City, Mo. (Cleveland Park)

11:00 a.m. CT

Kansas City

IPFW

Kangaroos Scavenge A Pair Of 4-1 Wins Over IPFW

4/5/2008 6:00:00 PM | Softball

By: UMKC Athletics

Kansas City, Mo. -- Carli Slagle followed up an outstanding defensive play with her second home run of the season in the first game and Samantha Hurst struck out a career-best 14 batters in the second as UMKC swept the series-opening doubleheader against IPFW by matching 4-1 counts. The wins mark the first time since the 2005 season that UMKC has won back-to-back games and the first doubleheader sweep since 2004.

Neither team was able to get on the board through the first two innings of the opener, but Alicia Baker had the first good scoring chance for the Kangaroos, with two outs and a runner on first in the top of the third. She uncorked a shot to left that trailed just foul. Unfortunately, her next effort was caught in foul territory by the first baseman to retire the side.

Lauren Rodrigues joined the home run club for UMKC in the bottom of the fifth, with a two-run shot to right to open the scoring.

In the top of the sixth, IPFW pushed a run across with back-to-back doubles, loading the bases to threaten. Ty Lambert hit a fly ball to shallow center, but Slagle stretched to make the grab and came up with a gun to home to hold the runners.

Slagle turn around in the bottom of the frame and pushed UMKC's lead back to two, jacking the first pitch of the inning to left center. Singles by Julie Hartung and Megan Ussary chased the IPFW starter from the game, but UMKC was able to tack on an insurance run.

IPFW retired in order in the top of the seventh to give UMKC the 4-1 win.

The Mastodons scored in the top of the first, as Katie Aspegren singled to lead off the inning. She advanced to second on a wild pitch, moving to third as Rachel Staschuk retired at first. On the 2-2 pitch to Abby Liden, the ball popped out of Rodrigues' mitt and rolled behind the plate umpire. Rodrigues was able to recover the ball and flip to a covering Hurst, but Aspegren was ruled to have slid under the tag for a run. Hurst recovered to get out of the inning with a diving grab on a high popup on the first-base line followed by a strikeout.

A double-rundown play in the bottom of the frame loaded the bases for UMKC. Hartung and Ussary reached on an error and a single through the left side gap respectively to lead off the inning, with a well-executed sac bunt by Hurst advancing the runners. Rodrigues laid down a bunt at the feet of the pitcher, but Hartung was able to check her sprint toward home to start the rundown. When the dust cleared, Rodrigues was at first on the fielder's choice. Aggressive baserunning did pay off for the Kangaroos on the next at-bat. The Mastodons tried to pick the double play with the force at home, but Amanda Kinn was able to beat the throw at first and give Ussary enough time to score.

Hurst picked up an unconventional four strikeouts in the second inning, in the midst of sitting down six straight IPFW batters.

Slagle led off the bottom of the fifth for the Kangaroos with a double to center, scoring on consecutive singles by Hartung and Ussary. Hurst sacrificed the runners into scoring position, but UMKC wasn't able to push either runner across.

The Kangaroos added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach. Hartung dropped a fly into shallow right to plate both Canisales and Baker, giving UMKC a 4-1 lead.

Upkes moved to 3-9 on the season while Hurst upped her record to 3-11. The Kangaroos (6-22, 4-9 Summit) will wrap up the series on Sunday, with a 12 p.m. start time on the docket.