April 2, 2006
Box Score
OMAHA, Neb. - A day after being held to four hits in a pair of close losses, the University of Northern Iowa softball team bounced back and broke free for 12 hits in an 8-6 win over Creighton Sunday at rain-soaked Creighton Sports Complex, its first Missouri Valley Conference triumph of the season.
The Panthers made their own breaks early and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Brittany Ruzicka (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Jefferson) stroked a leadoff single and then advanced to third when Nikki Ferden (Eldridge, Iowa/North Scott) legged out a double up the middle, setting up a scoring situation when a Stephanie Cortese pitch went to the backstop. Ruzicka scored on the wild pitch, with Ferden advancing to third.
Jamie Kelling (Davenport, Iowa/West) then uncorked a deep sacrifice fly to center field off Cortese, who entered the circle in relief of starter Cassidy Nee after just two batters, to plate Ferden.
Ruzicka started the Panthers off on the right foot in the third as well, dropping down a single and making it to third on a Creighton throwing error. Cortese closed the door on that threat, however, and UNI starter Uju Ibekwe (South Holland, Ill./Thornwood) went back to work. Ibekwe allowed only one ball out of the infield over the first four innings and recorded six strikeouts.
Senior Rachael Rogers (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) led off the Panthers' half of the fourth by ripping a double to the gap in left-center field. Morgan Paulson (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) followed with a double of her own into left-center after a hard-fought at-bat to bring Rogers across. Ibekwe then dropped down a sac bunt to move Paulson to third, and Stephanie Aguero followed with an RBI single to push Paulson home and give UNI a 4-0 lead. Aguero, who moved to second when her single was misplayed in center field, advanced to third when Ruzicka legged out her third single of the day, a slap hit that rolled between first and second bases.
A Creighton error with two outs allowed Ibekwe to reach on a ground ball in the fifth inning and allowed Kelly Papesh (Minooka, Ill./Minooka), who reached on an error, and Liz Adams (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar), pinch running after a Paulson single, to score. A double by Aguero drove in Ibekwe to give UNI a 7-0 advantage.
The Bluejays got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Bailey Dawson scored on a single by Laura Kratochvil and threatened again in the sixth. Monica Wright (Morrison, Ill./Morrison), pitching in relief, struck Cortese out looking to get the Panthers out of a bases-loaded jam.
Rogers then provided the exclamation point for UNI, leading off the seventh frame by driving her seventh home run of the season over the right-center field wall to push the Panthers' lead to 8-1. Ibekwe had a home run taken away two batters later, as Lau Emmsley-Chang reached up and pulled Ibekwe's shot to right field back into the park.
A Lauren Cisneros single plated a pair of runs for the Bluejays in the seventh, and Jessica German followed with an RBI hit to narrow the score to 8-4. A two-out double off the bat of Kratochvil narrowed it further, to 8-6, but Wright struck Balkovec out looking to seal the win.
Ibekwe went five innings in the circle, allowing a single run on just three hits, while issuing one walk and striking out seven batters to improve her season record to 4-9.
Ruzicka reached base in each of her at-bats, going 4-for-5 with a run scored, while Aguero went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Rogers and Paulson also recorded multi-hit games.
The Panthers, who improved to 9-22-1 and 1-8 in MVC play, return home Wednesday for the first game of a home-and-home series against instate rival Iowa State, with the first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. at Panther Park. UNI swept both games from the Cyclones last season.
NOTES
- The Panthers have now won three straight series finales after dropping both games Saturday against Creighton in Omaha. The Bluejays won the first two games of the weekend in 2002, 2004 and 2006, with UNI taking the final game Sunday each of those years.
