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April 29, 2007

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa softball team found hits hard to come by on Sunday, as freshman pitcher Tara Oltman tossed a two-hit shutout to propel league-leading Creighton to a  10-0 win and a sweep of the Panthers in the finale of the teams' Missouri Valley Conference series at Panther Park.

Oltman was in full control for the second straight day against the Panthers (18-30, 4-15 MVC), as she held the UNI lineup hitless for 4 2/3 innings and struck out six on her way to consecutive complete-game shutouts of the Panthers. Combined with her three-hit performance in Saturday's opening game, Oltman held the Panthers scoreless on five hits over 12 innings of work in the circle.

Combined with Indiana State's 3-1 win over Bradley and Drake's 6-4 win over Missouri State, Sunday's loss drops the Panthers into 10th place in the league standings.  UNI is now one game back of the Sycamores (5-15) for the eighth and final spot in the upcoming State Farm MVC Tournament.

Sunday's win, combined with No. 22 Illinois State's victory over No. 19 Southern Illinois, keeps the Bluejays (35-11-1, 17-3-1) on top of the Valley, with a 1 1/2 game cushion over the Salukis.

Sophomore Morgan Paulson (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) finally got to the Bluejays' pitcher in the bottom of the fifth and final inning, breaking up Oltman's bid for a no-hitter by stroking a double to the right-center field gap.  Senior Mandy Kumamoto (Torrance, Calif./West), who missed just her second start of the season after being struck by a ball in pre-game batting practice, followed with a single, but that was all the offense the Panthers would muster.

Offense was not as hard to come by for the Bluejays, who broke the teams' scoreless tie in the top of the third with a three-run home run off the bat of T.J. Eadus and never looked back on their way to consecutive 10-run efforts against the Panthers.

Creighton blew things wide open with a seven-run fourth frame that included four unearned runs plated with two outs after a UNI error allowed the inning to continue. Caitlin Marcano drove in three of those runs with one swing, smashing a homer to right-center that provided the Jays' winning margin.

While Oltman improved to 22-6 on the season with the win, UNI starter Ashley Lepley (Albia, Iowa/Albia) took the loss to fall to 8-13 for the campaign.

The Panthers have three games remaining to attempt to jump back into the MVC tournament field, as they wrap up the regular season with a three-game league series at Evansville next weekend (May 5-6). Indiana State concludes its campaign with three weekend games at Drake.