April 12, 2006
Box Score
AMES, Iowa - Making the most of bases-loaded opportunities - on both offense and defense - made a winner of the University of Northern Iowa softball team Wednesday.
The Panthers got a three-RBI double when they loaded the bases in the second inning and then turned a triple play when Iowa State packed the sacks in the third on their way to a 6-1 win over the Cyclones at the Southwest Athletic Complex.
The Panthers put together their threat in the second with Kelly Papesh (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) working a long at-bat to draw a leadoff walk and Rachael Rogers (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) reaching when she was hit by an Amie Ford pitch.
Jamie Kelling (Davenport, Iowa/West) followed with a bunt single to load the bases, which were promptly emptied when Morgan Paulson (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) dropped a double into the left-center field gap to gave UNI a 3-0 lead. Stephanie Aguero (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) extended the Panthers' lead to four runs with an RBI single that plated Paulson from second.
Iowa State put together a threat of its own in the bottom of the third, loading the bases with no one out. Nifty defense saved the Panthers, however, with Aguero snagging a Jessica Quade line drive at third and then stepping on the bag to put Kristy Olson out before firing to Kelling at second for a force out of pinch runner Whitney Perkins. The triple play, UNI's first, was the Panthers' 20th multiple-out play of the season.
From that point, UNI starter Monica Wright (Morrison, Ill./Morrison) retired the Cyclones in order in each of the next three innings, taking down 11 straight ISU hitters. Iowa State managed just six hits and one run off Wright, with the only score coming on a Jennifer Bigbee home run in the seventh inning. The complete-game victory, Wright's 15th seven-inning effort in 20 starts, bumped the freshman's season record to 6-14.
The Panthers had already added some insurance in the top of the seventh, with Nikki Ferden (Eldridge, Iowa/North Scott) slapping a single up the middle to start the frame. Paulson followed with an infield single and each runner advanced a base on a Cyclone error. Heads-up baserunning then allowed Ferden to score on a groundout by Aguero, and Paulson crossed the plate for the Panthers' sixth run when Stefaney Shalla (Kalona, Iowa/Mid-Prairie) dropped a single into left field.
Paulson went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and three more batted in. Kelling also went 3-for-4, while Shalla was 2-of-3 with an RBI.
UNI's win evens the all-time series between the teams at 32-32-1 and avenges a 2-1 loss to Cyclones in the squads' last meeting on April 5 in Cedar Falls. The Panthers have now won three of the last four games against their instate rival. With the loss, Iowa State drops to 17-19 on the year, while UNI improves to 10-26-1 overall.
The Panthers host Drake this weekend in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series, with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday and a single game set for Sunday. Action gets underway at Panther Park at noon each day.
NOTES
- Entering Wednesday's contest with Iowa State, UNI had turned 19 double plays in 36 games. At .53 per game, the Panthers sport the nation's third-best per-game average, along with Wagner and Long Beach State. Only DePaul (.59) and Oregon (.56) have better per-game averages than UNI. In addition, only four teams have turned more double plays than the Panthers - Campbell, Georgia Tech and Jacksonville with 23 each and Furman with 22. Each of those squads has completed at least 10 more games than UNI.
