Kansas City
IPFW
'Roos Stay Alive With 5-2 Win Over IPFW
5/13/2011 2:29:00 PM | Softball
Macomb, Ill. -- The UMKC softball team (37-15) kept its season alive on Friday with a 5-2 win over IPFW (28-15-1) in an elimination game at McKee Stadium in the 2011 Summit League Championships.
Senior Lauren Rodrigues led the UMKC offense, going 2-for-3, including the game winning two-run double. On the mound, sophomore Deanna Friese notched her 27th win of the year after throwing a complete game, five hitter with seven strikeouts.
In the game, the pitchers dominated early as neither team was able to scratch out a run through the first three innings of play.
The Kangaroos would finally break through in the fourth with three runs on three hits. Junior Anna Sokolik led the inning off with a single before moving to second on Megan Ussary's sacrifice bunt. Emily Ott then put runners on the corners after reaching on an error by the IPFW second baseman. Two batters later, Danielle Bennefeld put the 'Roos on the scoreboard for the first time in the tournament with an RBI single that knocked in Sokolik. Rodrigues then put UMKC up 3-0 with her two-run double to right center that plated both Ott and Bennefeld.
IPFW answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, but two more runs by UMKC in the fifth pushed the lead to 5-1. Kelly Fischer got the scoring started when she crossed the plate on a Southern Utah error, while Sokolik scored the second run of the inning on a wild pitch.
The Mastodons would cut the lead to three with a single run in the fifth, but they would get no closer, as Friese retired the final eight batters she faced.
The Blue & Gold will now face the loser of the North Dakota State/Southern Utah contest at 4 p.m. today for the right to play for The Summit League Championship.
