March 5, 2006
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV softball team (11-10) picked up a much-needed victory in the finale of the UNLV Invitational with its 5-4 win over Southern Utah Sunday evening. The Rebels took a 5-2 lead over the Thunderbirds and had to hold off a two late-inning rallies.
The Rebels put three runs on the board in the second inning on three hits and one SUU error. Shannon Crisp walked to open the frame and advanced to third on a double by Kendall Fearn. Becky McDonald plated Crisp and Fearn when her groundball to second was misplayed for an error. Britney Hillyer followed with a single to right to move McDonald to third. Brittany Bolinger picked up the third run of the inning with a single through the left side.
SUU got two of the runs back in the third with help from two hits and three Rebel errors. Jentry Johnson began the inning when she reached on an error by Fearn at third. Kayleen Carli hit a single to right field that Bolinger fielded and came up firing to third, but Fearn mishandled the ball and allowed Johnson to score. Carli stopped at second on the play and took third on a wild pitch thrown by Christie Robinson (4-2). Cassie Cresswell brought Carli home on a groundout.
UNLV got the two runs back in the fourth. Rosa Ordaz came off the bench to pinch hit and took a walk. Brittany Bolinger knocked a triple to right center to score Ordaz. Marissa Nichols was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. With Maggie Livreri at the plate, Bolinger and Nichols executed a perfect double steal to give the Rebels a 5-2 lead after four.
In the sixth, the Thunderbirds got a leadoff home run from Marci Pratt to pull within two runs. The offense notched two more hits in the inning, but failed to produce any more runs once Kelly Griego took over pitching duties for Robinson. Griego entered with two runners on, but got a double play for the first two outs and a fly out for the third.
SUU picked up its fourth run of the game in the seventh on a home run by Corie Jensen with one out. Carli followed with a double and took third on a sacrifice bunt by Cresswell on the second out. With the tying run on third, Griego got Pratt to foul out to Hilyer.
Robinson tossed 5.0 innings for the win. She allowed three runs (one earned) and six hits, while striking out five. Griego earned her second save of the season in her 2.0 innings of relief.
Ashley Christiansen (0-5) took the loss as she gave up three runs (two earned) in 1.1 innings of work. She gave up three hits and walked one. Jensen finished the game in the circle for SUU with 4.2 innings of relief work. The Rebels scattered three hits off Jensen and earned three base on balls.
Next up for UNLV is the start of three straight weeks on the road. The Rebels travel to the Islands for the Hawaii Spring Fling hosted by the University of Hawaii on March 8-11.
