March 11, 2005

North Dakota State Boxscore

Liberty Boxscore

Charlotte, N.C. - The Saint Louis Billikens dropped both games in day one action at Charlotte's Softball Tournament on Friday afternoon. The Bills fell to North Dakota State 6-5, and were edged by Liberty 6-5. The Billikens see their record fall to 4-9.

In the North Dakota State game, the Billikens took a 2-0 lead, but the Bison rallied late. Ashlee Heady drove in the first SLU run, and later scored on AshLeigh Williams' sac fly RBI. The Billikens chased NDSU starter Bekki Rasmussen after just 2/3-innings of work, but Amber Garrett shut the Bills out the rest of the way. The Bison rallied in the sixth inning with four runs, fueled by five stolen bases in the game. NDSU improved to 7-6 with the win.

Against Liberty, the Billikens grabbed the early lead with three runs in the second. Beth Schomaker singled, and Kristi Rasnic came on as a pinch runner. Rasnic advanced to second, and Jenna Renner followed with an RBI single to put the Bills up 1-0. Jody Herbert was up next and smacked a two-run homer to stake the Billikens to a three-run lead. The Billikens went up 4-0 after AshLeigh Williams doubled, and Renner delivered another RBI. Liberty earned one run back in the fifth, before mounting a comeback in the sixth. The Flames pushed across five runs on six hits and were aided by two SLU errors. The Bills pulled one run back when Kara Sell plated Adrienne May as the Billikens drew to one run at 6-5. But the Billikens were not able to push across the game-tying run. SLU pitcher Ashley Levan was handed the loss after giving up six runs but only one was earned. She finished with six strikeouts. Liberty moves to 6-5 on the season.

The Billikens will play Charlotte on Saturday in a non-conference game.