Softball Splits A Pair Of Games To Conclude Amy S. Harrison Classic

Sunday, March 14

Amy S. Harrison Field

9:00 AM

UC Riverside

Northern Illinois

Softball Splits A Pair Of Games To Conclude Amy S. Harrison Classic

3/14/2010 1:48:18 PM | Softball

Box Score - Northern Illinois 7, UC Riverside 6

Box Score - UC Riverside 11, Harvard 1

Riverside, CA - The UC Riverside softball team (10-14) split a pair of games on the final day of the Amy S. Harrison Classic on Sunday morning, dropping a close 7-6 battle against Northern Illinois in eight innings, but coming back to blow away Harvard 11-1 in five innings.

UCR pitcher Lauren Molina had a rough start against the Huskies in the first game, allowing four runs—all earned—in the top of the first inning to give NIU an early 4-0 lead. The Highlanders countered by scoring two runs each in the first and second innings to tie the game at four apiece.

UCR scored both its runs with two outs in the bottom of the first, as Kameryn Hebenton scored on a wild pitch from third base, and three batters later, Alexis Pickett reached on on an error by the third baseman, allowing Molina to score from third.

In the second inning, the Highlanders strung together three singles and a sacrifice fly from Taylor Thomas to even out game at 4-4.

Innings 3-7 were uneventful, however, as both team's bats went silent and the game headed into extra frames with the score still knotted at four all.

In the top of the eighth inning, the Huskies picked up three hits and scored three runs off relief pitcher Amy Lwin to take a 7-4 advantage.

Down to their last three outs, UC Riverside responded by scoring two runs and had the winning run at the plate in the bottom of their respective frame. Pickett and Tiana Towns both singled to score runs, but with two outs and one runner on base, pinch hitter Jojo Mendoza popped up to the catcher to end the inning, giving NIU a 7-6 win.

Lwin (0-5) was saddled with the loss for UCR while NIU's Morgan Bittner earned the win, pitching all eight innings.

Looking to turn things around against Harvard in the second game of the day, the Highlanders scored two, five, and four runs respectively in the second, third, and fourth innings to blow the game wide open. Casey Suda earned her first win of the season, pitching all five innings and allowing just one run.

The 11 runs scored by UCR is the most since an 11-5 win over UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 28, 2009, and also marks the first five-inning win due to the eight-run rule since a 14-6 win against Longwood on Mar. 13, 2009.

For the day, Villamor led UCR with four RBI and three hits; Shore added four hits; and Pickett had three RBI and four hits.

The Highlanders take a week off for finals and return to action to host CSU Bakersfield in a doubleheader on Monday, Mar. 22 at Amy S. Harrison Field in Riverside.