Kansas City
Southeast Missouri State
'Roos Fall 6-4 In Opening Game Of ULM Mardi Gras Classic; Season
2/13/2010 2:02:00 PM | Softball
SEMO got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first, when Jennifer Vasquez and Renee Kertz notched back-to-back singles off freshman Deanna Friese to drive in Shelby Stein and Alex Ramirez, giving the Redhawks an early 2-0 lead.
The 'Roos quickly responded in the top of the second inning with a two-out rally, featuring a two-run double by Vicino, scoring Emily Ott and Danielle Bennefeld. Anna Sokolik followed up with an RBI double of her own, scoring Vicino and giving the squad a 3-2 lead heading to the bottom of the second.
SEMO would tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Kertz, scoring Ramirez from second.
The score would stay tied until the bottom of the fifth, when SEMO took the lead without the benefit of a hit. Vasquez led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Kertz. After a wild pitch by Friese that put Vasquez on third, Brittaney Gonsoulin knocked in the run with a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Redhawks a 4-3 lead. SEMO would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, pushing the lead to 6-3.
The 'Roos would attempt to mount a comeback in their final at-bat, as Vicino led off the final inning with a double and would later come around to score on a two-out single by Kaelene Curry to cut the lead to 6-4. Kelly Fischer would follow that with a single of her own, putting runners on first and third with two outs for Lauren Rodrigues. Rodrigues though would fly out to right to end the game.
For the 'Roos, Curry and Sokolik finished with two hits and an RBI each, while Friese went the distance on the mound, giving up seven hits and four earned runs while striking out eight batters in her UMKC debut.
The Blue and Gold will be in action again later today when they take on Northwestern State at 6 p.m.
