April 13, 2005

Final Stats

A defensive softball game was played at Bulldog Diamond in Fresno, Calif., between UNLV (29-15) and 18th-ranked Fresno State. Both teams left plenty of runners on the base paths, but the dueling pitchers, Jacque Kerrigan (18-13) and Jamie Southern (15-2), kept the scoring to a bare minimum, in the 1-0 contest. Hits were hard to come by, as well. UNLV totaled two hits in the game to Fresno State's three.

UNLV and Fresno State each had their opportunities to score with each leaving four and eight runners on base, respectively. Both teams' best scoring opportunities came in the sixth inning. UNLV had Marissa Nichols on third with one out, but Southern got the final two outs to end the inning.

Caitlyn Paus had the best opportunity to bring Nichols home in the sixth, but a dazzling play by Leticia Pacheco at third kept the run off the board. Pacheco dove to her left to field the grounder and was able to fire from her knees to get Paus out at first.

Kerrigan's pitching caught up to her in the sixth as she hit Pacheco, with one out, and walked the next two batters to load the bases. Kerrigan got Shauna Johnson to strike out for the second out. Jenna Cervantez had the decisive at-bat and came through for the home team. Cervantez hit a grounder to the left side that Amber Campbell fielded deep in the hole, but was unable to throw her out at first. Pacheco scored on the play and wound up being the lone run scored in the game.

Southern got UNLV's seventh inning hitters out in succession for the win.