Feb. 24, 2007

Final Stats

Cathedral City, Calif. - In a battle between Rebels at Big League Dreams Sports Park in Cathedral City, UNLV (11-6) dropped a 5-3 contest to Mississippi (4-10) on Saturday night. The loss drops UNLV to 2-3 in the Palm Springs Classic with one game remaining.

After two scoreless innings of play, Mississippi struck for two runs on two hits and a little help from a UNLV error. Emily Sarver opened up the inning with a single to deep into the hole at short. Sarver then moved to second on a groundout and was then joined on the base paths by Lauren Grill, who walked. Mary Jane Callahan put the runners in scoring position with the second groundout of the inning. Ashley Dowdy then came up and hit a grounder to Brittany Meade at third. The ball was misplayed and rolled between Meade's legs. Once the ball was under control, Gill collided into Meade and made it safely to third before being tagged. Alyssa McGovern then came up and delivered a single to short to plate Grill.

Mississippi struck for a single run in the fourth. Amber Tramp led off with a walk and was pushed to second on a sacrifice bunt. Sarver then came up and placed a double in left to bring home Tramp.

The double by Tramp ended the night for UNLV starter Casey Thompson in her first start of the season. Thompson lasted 3.2 innings in the circle. She gave up four hits and three runs, one of which was earned.

UNLV fell behind 5-0 after Mississippi's half of the fifth. Ole Miss put runners on first and second with help from a single by Dowdy and a fielding error by UNLV hurler Christie Robinson on a sacrifice bunt attempt by McGovern. Lauren Rowe then pushed both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Tramp then hit a deep sacrifice fly to right to bring home Dowdy. Michelle May then hit a single through the left side to bring McGovern home.

Thanks to two bases loaded walks issued by Callahan, in the sixth, UNLV took the zero off the scoreboard and replaced it with a two. Meade, Sandy Nakamura and Brittany Bolinger loaded the bases up for Brittany Freight's walk to first base. Following a strike out, Jaci Hull took the second base-on-balls to score Stacey Burgos, who was pinch-running for Nakamura. With the bases still juiced, Callahan got Kelli Fangonilo to hit a grounder to short for the third out.

UNLV got one more run in the bottom of the seventh with help from two errors committed by Dowdy at short. Laura Briones, who entered the game as a defensive replacement for Bri Bernardi, hit a flare to Dowdy, who let the ball slip out of her glove. As Briones was reaching first, Dowdy unwisely threw the ball into her own dugout to allow her second. Nakamura then deposited a single up the middle to score Briones.

Robinson finished out the final 3.1 innings in the circle for UNLV. She allowed two runs, both unearned, on four hits. She walked one and struck out one.

Callahan (2-4) went the distance for her second win of the season. In 7.0 innings of work, she allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits. She struck out seven and walked four.

Next up for UNLV is their sixth and final game of the Classic. UNLV will play Maryland at 1:00 pm.