April 23, 2002

Final Stats

Columbia, Mo. - The Saint Louis softball team earned a split at Missouri in non-conference softball action on Tuesday night. The Billikens won a thrilling nine-inning affair in game one 6-5. The Tigers roared back 10-0 in game two to earn a split.

The Billikens began quickly, tallying four runs to chase MU starter Veronica Flournoy after just one out. Erin Jeffery began the game with a single and Kerri Higgins drew a walk. Beth Yagge singled to load the bases. Missouri got its first out of the game by forcing Jeffery at the plate, but the bases remained loaded for Adrie Bogaars. The junior singled to left to drive in two runs. Janet Venorsky doubled to score starting pitcher Nicole Bohnenstiehl to make it 3-0. After an MU pitching change, Bogaars tallied on a Tiger error for a 4-0 SLU lead. The Billikens made it 5-0 when Bohnenstiehl doubled to plate Jeffery.

Missouri got on board with a solo homer by Morgan LeCluyse. Out out later, Melanie Fisher drilled a two-run homer to cut the Billiken lead to 5-3 in the third. Missouri tied the game in the fourth on two walks and three hits. The Tigers had a great opportunity to take the lead, but leftfielder Beth Puttcamp threw out Mary McGrane at home to end the fifth inning.

Neither team scored and the international tiebreaker was used beginning in the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth, Bohnenstiehl began the inning on second and was moved to third on Bogaars' sac bunt. A wild pitch by Missouri allowed Bohnenstiehl to score the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the ninth, Heather Allister started on second and took third on a passed ball. However, Bohnenstiehl induced two fly balls to end the game. Bohnenstiehl went the distance and struck out six. She and Erin Jeffery both had three hits to key the SLU attack.

Game two saw the Tigers get off to a quick start, but the Billikens could not muster an answer and Missouri cruised to a 10-0 decision. The Tigers pushed across five runs in the first on three hits, a walk and two SLU errors. In the second, Missouri tacked on two runs and closed out the scoring with three runs and three hits in the third. The Billikens managed just three hits in the five-inning game and never got a runner to third base. MU starter Ingird Werner struck out three and did not issue a walk to the Billikens.

The Billikens are now 22-24 while the Tigers stand at 29-30.