March 21, 2010
Final Stats
FULLERTON, Calif. - The UNLV Rebels (20-11) exorcised the DePaul Blue Demons (13-11) in one of the final games of the Judi Garman Classic held in Fullerton, Calif. UNLV broke open a scoreless game with five runs spread between the fourth and fifth innings before having to stave off a come-from-behind attempt by DePaul, as they scored four before stranding the game-tying run on the bases when the game ended.
After three scoreless innings, UNLV jumped on the board first with three runs on four hits. Ashli Holland opened the inning with a single and moved over to third on a double down the line in left by Kendall Fearn. Following the first out of the frame, Alyssia De La Torre laid down a perfect suicide-squeeze that plated Holland, who slid around a tag attempt by DePaul's catcher at the plate. With Fearn and De La Torre in scoring position and two out, Tara Bendt then hit a grounder that deflected off Becca Heteniak's glove in the circle and bounded through the right side. Fearn and De La Torre scored easily on the play to close out the three-run stanza.
UNLV added two more runs in the fifth off of three hits. The inning nearly began as the fourth with a one-out single by Holland and a double by Fearn. The only difference was that Fearn's shot to deep center scored Holland for the Rebels' fourth run. After the second out had been recorded, De La Torre hit a duck snort down the line in left that fell in and scored a pinch-running Kylie Wagner to give UNLV a 5-0 cushion.
DePaul's offense awoke in the fifth inning with two hits after only notching one through the first four innings. Samantha Morgan led off the inning with a walk issued by Jessica O'Connor. Simone Ashkar then stepped up as a pinch-hitter and cranked a two-run shot to left to cut the deficit to three at 5-2. Sean Plese, who entered as a pinch-hitter, scored the third run for DePaul after reaching on a fielding error, moving to second on a groundout and a sacrifice fly by Tara Voss.
The Blue Demons attempted a rally in the seventh, but only managed one run before the third out had been recorded. Marie Thompson scored DePaul's fourth run of the game after pinch-running for Ashkar, who initially singled. Thompson made her way around the bases after a groundout moved her to second and a single to center by Brittany Yniguez scored her. O'Connor got the last batter to ground out stranding the game-tying run on the base path.
O'Connor improved to 9-3 on the year with her seventh complete game of the year. She was touched for four runs (three earned) on five hits. She struck out three and walked one.
Heteniak dropped to 7-8 with the loss. She allowed five runs on 12 hits, while striking out seven and walking one.
UNLV is back in action Friday afternoon (March 26) when they visit Loyola Marymount in a 2:00 pm contest.
