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March 4, 2007

Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -  Four solo home runs were not enough for the University of Northern Iowa softball team in the finale of the Holiday Inn Express-Arkansas Invitational on Sunday, as the Panthers fell 6-5 to Arkansas at Lady `Back Yard.

Trailing 4-3 in the fifth inning, Rachel Gerking (Spirit Lake, Iowa/Spirit Lake) tied things up with the Panthers' fourth solo homer of the game, leading off the top of the inning with a shot over the centerfield fence.  Mandy Kumamoto (Torrance, Calif./West) then gave the Panthers the lead with a deep double that plated Megan Machovec (DeWitt, Iowa/Central DeWitt), who reached on an error. 

Papesh led off the top of sixth with a double and Whitney Link (Ankeny, Iowa/Des Moines East) advanced followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance pinch-runner Nikki Ferden (Eldridge, Iowa/North Scott) to third.  UNI was unable push the run across, however.

UNI had another opportunity in the seventh inning, with Lepley reaching with one out when she was hit by a pitch.  Lepley then moved to third on a perfectly-executed hit-and-run, with by Jen Larsen (Moline, Ill./Moline) stroking a two-out single.  The Panthers were unable to score the run from third, however, and settled for just their second loss in their last eight games.

UNI wrapped up a 4-2 weekend in which the Panthers swept three games against Louisiana-Monroe and went 1-2 against the host Lady Razorbacks.  The Panthers are still in contention for the tournament championship and can secure the title with an Arkansas loss Sunday afternoon to Louisiana-Monroe.

Lepley helped out her own cause before she had even thrown a pitch, putting the Panthers on the board with a solo home run to left in the top of the first.  The homer was Lepley's third of the season.

The Lady `Backs snagged the lead in their half of the second inning, however, with Dayna Huckabee leading with a single and scoring on a double by Miranda Dixon, who then scored one batter later on a double by Whitney Cloer to give Arkansas a 2-1 lead.

Arkansas added another pair of runs in the bottom of the third, with Dixon and Cloer driving back-to-back RBI singles through the left side of the infield to push the Lady `Backs' lead to 4-1.

Larsen cut the deficit two runs with a solo home run in the top of the fourth, a carbon copy of Lepley's earlier shot to left field for her third of the season. Papesh trimmed the Arkansas lead further with her first home run of the season two batters later, a solo shot to right-center field that cut the Lady `Backs' lead to 4-3.

Larsen, who entered the game in relief of Lepley, took the pitching loss and saw her record dip to 4-3 on the year.  Larsen finished 3-for-4 at the plate, however, while Papesh went 2-for-3.  Five UNI players tallied an RBI in the game.

With the loss, the Panthers fall to 8-6 overall, while Arkansas improves to 8-14.

NOTES

The loss is just the Panthers' second in a game in which they scored first.  UNI is now 8-2 when they score before the opponent.

Junior Stephanie Aguero, who went 0-for-4 at the plate, saw her team-best hit streak halted at 10 games.