'Cats in winner's bracket with 2-1 win over MWU
5/8/2009 9:45:00 PM | Softball
Box Score
NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament Web Site
DURANT, Okla. ? A two-run fifth inning would be all the Abilene Christian Wildcats would need to take a first-round win over Missouri Western Friday afternoon in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament. Jackie Gentile drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Melissa Rodriguez followed by driving in the go-ahead run with a double.
The two runs in the fifth helped ACU come back after the Griffons led 1-0 after Becky Diehl hit a solo home run off Wildcat starter Jacque Gregoire in the top of the second inning.
Diehl was nearly the hero again for MWU. In the top of the sixth, she led off with a single; then Samantha Buchnan's sacrifice bunt moved her to second base. At the plate with an out and a runner in scoring position, Keri Franks delivered with a hard single to the centerfield wall, however, ACU's Nabors relayed a nice throw to Rodriguez at shortstop. Diehl, however, ran through the stop sign at third base, Rodriguez fired to Nancy Sawyers at third base and Sawyers chased down Diehl in the rundown for out No. 2. TyAnn Williamson then grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
From there Gregoire surrendered two straight singles with one out in the top of the seventh inning. However, the game ended when Shannon Pivovar lined to Rodriguez and she tossed over to second base to get out Mandie Nocita for the L6-3 double play.
After Southeastern Oklahoma's 1-0 win over Central Missouri later Friday, ACU will face the Savage Storm Saturday at 11 a.m. in the winner's bracket game while MWU and CMU will play in the elimination game at 1:30 p.m.
Gregoire scattered 11 hits, but Diehl's solo home run was the only damage and Gregoire moved to 22-5 on the season. The sophomore walked one and struck out four. The Griffons' Allison Jones picked up a loss in the complete game dropping to 25-5 on the season. MWU, the No. 6 seed in the tournament dropped to 45-11 on the season.
ACU, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, moved to 43-13 on the year, and the Wildcats set the single-season school record for wins passing the 2006 team that finished 42-17. ACU is now 5-6 all-time in NCAA regional tournaments.
Saturday's game between ACU and the Savage Storm will air in Abilene on KYYW 1470 AM.
