Kansas City
Maine
UMKC Drops A Pair of Games On Opening Day Of Texas Tech Tournament
2/19/2010 7:58:00 PM | Softball
Lubbock, Texas -- The UMKC softball (1-4) team opened up the Texas Tech Tournament with a 12-7 loss to Maine on Friday morning. In the game, the 'Roos hung close early, as the score was tied at seven heading into the fourth inning, but the squad allowed five late runs to the Black Bears to take the loss. Amanda Kinn and Taylor Hill led the squad in the contest as each finished with two hits and an RBI.
Maine jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but UMKC quickly responded with three runs of their own to even up the score. Hill and Kinn both picked up their RBIs in the inning, driving in Danielle Bennefeld and Megan Vicino.
In the second, the Black Bears tacked on four more runs to increase the lead to 7-3, but the 'Roos would again battle back in the bottom off the inning, adding two runs of their own to cut the lead to 7-5. This time the squad would get an RBI from Emily Ott that scored Kaelene Curry, while Bennefeld also scored on the play.
UMKC then evened up the score in the third on a Kelly Fischer two-run double, scoring Curry and Carli Slagle. The tie would be short-lived though, as Maine went on to score three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. Neither team would score in the final two innings as Maine took the game, 12-7.
In the second game of the day, the 'Roos fell 2-1 to Texas Tech, as the squad only managed a Curry single off Red Raider pitcher Karli Merlich in the contest. Deanna Friese was the hard luck loser for UMKC as the freshman threw a complete game, giving up only three hits while striking out six, including striking out the side in the fifth.
The 'Roos took an early 1-0 in the top of first thanks to a pair of Red Raider errors. Kaelene Curry led off the game by reaching on an error by third baseman Raven Richardson and later scored when shortstop Emily Bledose committed an error on Chelsea Hartwig's groundball.
Texas Tech would immediately respond in the bottom of the first when Mikey Kenney hit a two-run home run of Friese giving them a 2-1 lead.
Both pitchers would eventually settle down, as neither would allow a hit after the second inning and the Red Raiders would capture the victory.
The Blue and Gold will resume play in the Texas Tech Tournament tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. against Maine.
