March 6, 2005

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University softball team was victimized by a pair of one-run losses on Sunday as the Bulldogs dropped a 2-1 decision versus the UAB Blazers and then suffered a nine-inning 4-3 defeat against the Birmingham-Southern Panthers, 4-3, in the final day of the 2005 Union State Bank Magic City Classic.

Both UAB (11-14) and Birmingham-Southern (9-8) concluded the two-day round-robin tournament with identical 3-1 records. The Blazers defeated BSC, 4-3, on Saturday, but the Panthers bounced back on Sunday by posting a 3-0 shutout victory over UAB.

Birmingham-Southern was declared the champion of the 2005 Magic City Classic after winning the runs-allowed tiebreaker with UAB. The Panthers only allowed seven runs in four games this weekend, while UAB gave up a total of eight runs.

The 2005 championship is the first Magic City Classic title for the Panthers. UAB won the first three titles of the four-year event.

Samford (7-10) suffered a pair of hard-fought defeats on Sunday and finished the two-day competition with an 0-4 record. The Bulldogs lost two of their four games by one-run margins, but were outscored, 16-5, on the weekend.

In Samford's opening game on Sunday, the Bulldogs limited UAB to two hits, but the Blazers rallied for a slight 2-1 victory. Samford out-hit UAB, 5-2, in the contest.

The Blazers scored both of their runs in the bottom of the second inning as junior Amanda Byrne looped a double down the right field line. With two outs in the frame, UAB's Dusti Roberts and Kris Lara were able to score from second and first base, respectively.

Samford rebounded with a run of its own in the top of the fourth inning as sophomore Jenna Dempski singled down the right-field line to drive in freshman Bethany Weisser. Dempski, the Bulldogs' powerful first baseman from Round Rock, Texas, went 1-for-3 against UAB.

Samford committed costly errors in its second game of the day and fell prey to a 4-3 nine-inning loss to the BSC Panthers.

In the top of the ninth inning, Birmingham-Southern's pinch runner Grace Stokes scored the game-winning run on a throwing error by Weisser.

Stokes was placed on second base to start the inning due to the international tiebreaker rule and was getting moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Raquel Sanfiel when Weisser threw wide of Dempski at first base allowing Stokes to score. The error proved to be the Bulldogs' second of the game.

Samford's Erin Hall reached third base with only one out in the bottom of the ninth inning when the Panthers' relief pitcher Kristina Villavicencio buckled down and struck out both Trisha Holman and Alicia Harris to preserve the victory. Birmingham-Southern's ace finished the game with nine strikeouts in six innings of relief.

The Bulldogs concluded the game with three runs on five hits and freshman Tracey Deaux paced the team with a 2-for-3 performance from the plate. Samford's native of Collierville, Tenn., also drove in a run against BSC and upped her RBI total to three this season.

Samford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in its second game on Sunday as freshman Jeslyn Metcalf roped a double to the wall in left-center field. On the drive, Dempski and Harris both scored giving Metcalf the first two runs batted in of her collegiate career.

After Birmingham-Southern's Sloane Laiche connected on a three-run homer in top of the third inning, the Bulldogs' evened the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the frame with Deaux's RBI single to left field.

Sophomore Susanna Meyer pitched all nine innings for Samford and concluded the contest with nine strikeouts and zero walks.

The Samford University softball team will next be in action on Wednesday as the Bulldogs host the Auburn Tigers in a 6 p.m. contest to be held at Bulldog Field.

Sunday, March 6 - Results
Game 1: Birmingham-Southern (8-8) def. UAB (10-14), 3-0
Game 2: UAB (11-14) def. Samford (7-9), 2-1
Game 3: Birmingham-Southern (9-8) def. Samford (7-10), 4-3 (9 inn.)