May 11, 2011

Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. ---- The Samford softball team knocked off the No. 2 seed Appalachian State Wednesday evening, 6-3, to advance to the second round of the Southern Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs will play the winner of Georgia Southern/UNC Greensboro Thursday at 4 p.m. CT at Eagle Field.

"We told them yesterday and today that we needed to take this week one game at a time, one at-bat at a time, one pitch at a time, and that's what we did," Samford head coach Stephanie VanBrakle said.

In a déjà vu moment from 2009, the Bulldogs knocked off Appalachian State again in the league tournament after being swept by the Mountaineers in the regular season.

It was a back and forth game in the early innings but after losing its third-inning lead, Samford scored four runs off only one hit in the top of the fourth to take the lead back for good. Nicole Bobrowski led off the inning with a walk, and the pinch runner Madeline Baker moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Adams. Baker moved to third on a groundout to second base before Arica Dykes walked to put runners on the corners.

With two outs in the inning, the Bulldogs started a rally that would eventually seal the win for Samford. Dykes stole second, advancing Baker home on the throw. Kayla Shaffer then reached on a fielder's choice error, putting runners on the corners again. The same strategy worked again for the Bulldogs as Shaffer stole second, scoring Dykes on the throw. Robyn Harmon knocked in the final two runs of the inning with a two-run single to center field.

After two quick outings in the first inning by both teams, Appalachian State plated its first run in the bottom of the second inning when Allie Cashion scored on an error by Samford pitcher Kayla Burris while Michelle Lighton reached first base. However, the Bulldogs were able to get three outs and prevent the Mountaineers from scoring again.

In the bottom of the inning, Dykes led off and reached first base on a throwing error by the third baseman but was thrown out on the next play when Shaffer reached on a bunt and Dykes got caught in a run down between second and third base. Harmon then popped up to the shortstop but Amanda Jordan hit her first triple of the year to clear the bases and give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.

ASU took the lead back in the bottom of the third when Meghan Smith hit an RBI double to drive in Katie Boyd, but the Mountaineers left two runners stranded as Nicole Bobrowski came in to pitch and got Sheridan Phillips to ground out to second base to end the inning.

"Nicole has come up huge for us in the last month and it's just a big honor for her to get on the All-Freshman team, which speaks volumes for how she has progressed this year," VanBrakle said. "I can't tell you how proud I am of her for coming in at crunch time and really pitching like an upperclassman instead of a freshman."

The freshman got her fourth win of the season, pitching 4.1 innings of relief for Burris. Bobrowski gave up just one hit in her outing while recording two strikeouts and allowing one walk.

"The defense today was awesome," Bobrowski said. "I didn't get that many strikeouts today but they backed me up when I needed it. This win was huge because I think people underestimated us coming in because of our record but our motivation to do something different was the factor of today."

Harmon and Jordan led the Bulldogs at the plate, each going 1-for-4 with two RBI. Chambers was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and Shaffer was 1-for-4 with two runs. Adams was also 1-for-2 while Baker and Dykes each plated a run.

Burris started the game and pitched 2.2 innings before being taken out due to a nagging injury. She gave up two earned runs on six hits and struck out one batter.

Cashion led the Mountaineers going 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Four other players each had a hit for ASU while Smith accounted for the Mountaineers' other RBI.

Louise Gibson (5-8) took the loss in the circle after giving up three earned runs on one hit in the fourth inning. Gibson came on in relief of Caitlin Wainright who gave up three earned runs on three hits in the first three innings while walking three batters and striking out one. Hannah Dow pitched the final three innings and gave up just one hit while recording two walks and two strikeouts.

The Bulldogs will take on the winner of the Georgia Southern/UNC Greensboro match up which is being played right now. Fans can follow the action via live stats and video at www.SoConSports.com and a full recap and box score will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the game.