Kansas City
North Dakota
Friese Throws No-Hitter As 'Roos Close Out Dakotas Round Robin Tournament
4/17/2011 7:00:00 PM | Softball
Olathe, Kan. -- Sophomore Deanna Friese tossed her first career no-hitter in the 4-0 win over North Dakota (12-30) in the Sunday's opening game of the Dakotas Round Robin Tournament. In the late game, the 'Roos closed out the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record after beating South Dakota (16-27) 5-3 in a come-from-behind victory.
In the game against North Dakota, Friese (19-7) threw her 20th complete game and fifth shutout of the season, while striking out 14 Fighting Sioux hitters.
Friese opened the game by striking out the side in both the first and the third innings, while allowing just one base runner over that stretch.
In the bottom of the third, UMKC (27-14) got on the scoreboard first when junior Anna Sokolik singled to center to knock in fellow junior Kaelene Curry from third.
Friese, meanwhile, continued to roll, as the Kennesaw, Ga., native struck out four batters in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the 'Roos built their lead to 2-0 when junior Kelly Fischer came around to score on Sokolik's RBI double to left.
After another hitless inning from Friese, freshman Katie Henning walked and junior Danielle Bennefeld hit her second home run in as many days to extend the lead to 4-0.
In the seventh, Friese got the lead-off batter to ground out to short before striking out the final two Fighting Sioux hitters to complete the no-hitter.
In the final game of the tournament, the Kangaroos fell behind early after the Coyotes picked up single runs in the second and third innings off UMKC starter Katie Franks to go up 2-0 heading into the bottom of the third.
UMKC would battle back to tie the game at two with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Junior Kaelene Curry began the rally with a one-out triple before crossing the plate on Sokolik's single to short. After stealing second and advancing to third on an error, Sokolik then scored the tying run on Megan Ussary's RBI single.
South Dakota retook the lead in the top of the fourth, but the 'Roos again answered when Bennefeld scored on Fischer's RBI single.
After a scoreless fifth inning, UMKC would take its first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth. The 'Roos got their first run of the inning when Bennefeld scored on Curry's single, while the second run came when Curry scored on Sokolik's RBI groundout, her fourth RBI of the day.
Sokolik then sat down the Coyotes in order in the seventh, including striking out the final two batters of the game, to move her record to a perfect 4-0.
On the day, Curry finished with a team-high four hits and three runs, while Sokolik recorded three hits, four RBIs and a run. Bennefeld, meanwhile, scored three runs and notched two RBIs.
In the tournament, Friese finished 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA in 18 innings pitched with 40 strikeouts, while opposing hitters hit just .051 against the right hander.
In the first game of the day, South Dakota defeated North Dakota 1-0.
The 'Roos will be back in action again on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Mid-American Nazerene.
