March 21, 1998
FULLERTON, Calif. - UNLV traveled to the Kia Klassic this past weekend to face some tough competition from around the nation. The Rebels went 1-4 but three of the four losses came to teams that are currently ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll. The Rebels were defeated by #11 Texas, #22 Cal State Northridge and #6 Oklahoma. The fourth loss came in a 4-6 decision to Georgia State. UNLV finished the tournament with a 4-2 win over Cal State Fullerton in the consolation round.
In the first game on Thursday the Rebels played a close game with the Longhorns, resulting in a 1-0 eight-inning defeat. The Rebels managed just one hit, a single by Stephanee Italiano, but managed to put runners in scoring position. UNLV left seven stranded and were unable to score in the eighth after they were given a runner on second via the international tiebreaker rule. The Rebels were not able to stop Texas in its half of the inning as Jody Reeves recorded the game-winning RBI. Brandi Isgar recorded the loss for the Rebels, pitching a complete game and giving up one unearned run on nine hits.
The second game was a dual with Georgia State. After building a 3-0 lead, UNLV allowed Georgia State back in the game on the strength of five runs in the fifth and sixth innings, including a three run homer by Monica Pardo in the sixth to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. The two teams traded runs in the seventh for the 6-4 final.
Next up for the Rebels was #22 Cal State Northridge. Once again the offense never surfaced for the Rebels, who finished with just two hits and had a total of four runners on base. Northridge on the other hand recorded nine hits and managed two runs while leaving nine runners on base. Isgar took the loss to drop her record to 6-10. The loss to Northridge gave UNLV the fourth seed in the A pool and pitted them against the #6 team in the nation, Oklahoma.
The Sooners jumped to a 5-0 lead, including two home runs for four runs in the fifth. UNLV answered in the top of the sixth with two home runs of its own. One home run came off the bat of Linda Garza. The two run shot was the first of her career at UNLV. Julie Crandall took Garza's lead with a solo homer two batters later. Unfortunately for the Rebels, this was all the runs they would produce as the Sooners went on to take a 5-3 victory.
The tournament did end on a good note however, as UNLV was able to take a victory from host Cal State Fullerton. The Rebels built a three-run lead in the sixth inning. Kelly DeArman had the two-RBI double and then scored off a Keao Chang double in the next at bat. The Titans came to within one by scoring two runs in their half of the sixth but UNLV scored an insurance run in the seventh and disposed of Fullerton 1-2-3 in their last plate appearance. Isgar, a transfer from Cal State Fullerton two seasons ago, recorded the win as she gave up just three hits and was credited with two earned runs. She walked four batters and struck out five.
