Lost to Stanford, beat Evansville -- The Tiger's Den

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Date Posted: 23:39:35 05/18/02 Sat
Author: Jon Ralston
Subject: Lost to Stanford, beat Evansville
In reply to: Jon Ralston 's message, "Regional Play begins today" on 16:08:42 05/16/02 Thu

Originally Published Friday, May 17, 2002
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Ball, Tigers live on

Senior pitches 45th shutout after rough loss to Cardinal

By Bob Highfill

Record Staff Writer

FRESNO -- Cindy Ball didn't want her collegiate career to end just yet. Her teammates weren't ready to start summer vacation, either.

Ball, the only senior on University of the Pacific's softball team, tossed her 45th career shutout, and the Tigers' bats perked up in a 6-0 victory over Evansville to stay alive in the NCAA Softball Region 4 Championships at Bulldog Diamond in Fresno.

"I'm excited just to be playing again," Ball said. "I don't want to go to graduation (today and Saturday)."

Pacific (43-16) will play Fresno State (49-19) at 2:30 p.m. today. The winner will play top-seeded Cal State Fullerton (51-11) at 7:30, and the loser will go home. The Tigers, the No. 5 seed, were beaten 7-0 by second-seeded Stanford (44-18) in their opener.

Cal State Fullerton beat Evansville 3-0 in the first game Thursday, and Cal beat Fresno State 2-1 in 10 innings. Stanford and Cal will meet in a battle of Pac-10 rivals at 5 p.m. today.

Familiarity proved to be a problem against the Cardinal, who scorched Ball for five earned runs on eight hits in four innings.

"Cindy pitched pretty well," Pacific coach Brian Kolze said between games. "Stanford has seen her enough. We've played them so many times (twice earlier this season and four times last year). They didn't chase anything that put them in holes. It wasn't like they hit the ball hard, but their hits were timely."

The Tigers put Evansville away early with five runs on five hits in the second inning. Estee Okumura started the rally with a one-out single. She stole second and scored on a base hit by Boni Kading after catcher Samantha Doner dropped the relay throw from left field. Ashlie D'Errico was hit by a pitch, and Aloha Yamaguchi singled to load the bases. Nicole Inouye cleared them with a triple to left-center field and scored one out later on a double to center by Brandy Thurman, who also drove in a run with a single in the fourth.

Ball walked the first Purple Ace she faced, then retired 21 of the next 24. The Big West pitcher of the year finished with a season-high 14 strikeouts.

It was quite a turnaround for the Tigers, who went out with a whimper in the opener.

"We talked afterward and I told (Ball) to take the same approach," Kolze said. "Go out and pitch your game. (Evansville) hadn't seen her pitch before. We wanted to make them make the adjustments."

Against the Cardinal, Pacific barely made a sound at the plate before Kading singled through the left side of the infield to open the fifth. By that time, Stanford had a comfortable 5-0 lead after it plated three runs on four hits in the third inning and another two on three hits in the fourth. Ball hadn't been roughed up that bad since a 9-5 loss to Washington on March 26.

Jennifer Dacre took over to start the fifth. She walked two but fought through the inning without giving up a run. In the sixth, Sarah Beeson led off with a single, then Kira Ching pulled a shot over the left-field fence for her 10th home run to make it 7-0. Ching hit a line drive over Inouye's head in right field for a two-run triple in the third and had four RBI for the game.

* To reach reporter Bob Highfill, phone 546-8299 ore-mail bhighfil@recordnet.com

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Replies:

Re: Lost to Fresno St., season over -- Jon Ralston, 23:44:40 05/18/02 Sat