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Kansas City
Western Illinois
UMKC Drops Two Games To Western Illinois Out At Cleveland Park
3/14/2009 8:00:00 PM | Softball
Kansas City, Mo. ? The Kangaroos struggled in their home opener with Western Illinois, dropping a pair of games out at Cleveland Park on Saturday afternoon. UMKC took Western Illinois to nine innings the first game but fell 4-3 and then dropped game two of the three game series, 5-2. Despite the two losses, Carli Slagle finished with a pair of home runs and finished with four RBIs in two games.
The pair will wrap up the three-game series tomorrow out at Cleveland Park at noon.
Western Illinois 4 ? UMKC 3 (9)
The Westerwinds got on the scoreboard first, scoring one run in the top of the third but the Kangaroos would get the sticks going in the fourth to tie the game at 1-1.
Kelly Fischer led off the inning with a single to shortstop and moved to second on a throwing error by the Western Illinois shortstop. Betsy Hanley would score Fischer with a double to right center for the RBI.
Western Illinois struck again the fifth and sixth, scoring one run in each to take a 3-1 lead headed into the bottom of the sixth, enter Slagle who hit her first homerun of the day. Slagle sent one sailing with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to score Rhiannon Mendez to get the `Roos within one, 3-2.
The two would battle it out in extra innings, with the Westerwinds finally scoring in the top of the ninth. The Western Illinois defense was able to hold UMKC in the bottom of the ninth to secure its first Summit League victory.
Samantha Hurst pitched a complete nine innings for the Kangaroos and took the loss. Hurst gave up five hits and four runs, with only one of those runs being earned and retired six batters. UMKC had a rough day on the field, finishing the game with five errors.
Western Illinois 5 ? UMKC 2
At the conclusion of the sixth inning, Western Illinois held a 5-0 lead over the Kangaroos following a three-run third inning. UMKC got the offensive lift it needed in the sixth with a lead-off double to left field from Hanley. Slagle then followed that up with a bomb over the center fielder's head to put the `Roos on the board, 5-2.
But the UMKC streak would be brief, as they were held hitless in the bottom of the seventh.
Nicholle Ellis and Taya Upkes were on the mound for UMKC, with Ellis taking the loss and dropping to 3-3 on the season. Ellis gave up five runs off of 10 hits, with four of those runs being earned. Ellis retired three batters while Upkes finished with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of work.
UMKC falls to 0-2 in The Summit League, while Western Illinois starts off the season at 2-0 in the league.
