YSU Softball Wins Horizon League
Championship
Tiffany Patteson hit a walk–off home run to right field
and Karlie Burnell picked up her fourth win of the tournament as
the Penguins defeated UIC, 2-1 in the Horizon League Softball
Championship at McCune Park to advance to their first–ever
NCAA Tournament.
Patteson, who was named to the all-tournament team with a .467
batting average, belted a one-out, 2-0 pitch over the right-field
wall for her fourth home run of the season to break a 1-1 tie.
Sophomore McKenzie Bedra, who was named the tournament’s
Most Valuable Player, cranked her fifth homer of the tournament, a
two-out solo shot, in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the
game. Bedra, who hit .700 in the postseason, set the tournament
record for most home runs (five) and total bases (18), and twice
tied a tournament single game record for home runs with two against
both Detroit and Wright State. She was also named the Offensive
Player of the Tournament.
After giving up a run on two hits in the top of the first
inning, Burnell, an all-tournament team selection, held the Flames
at bay for the second straight contest by limiting the top seed to
just five more hits and did not allow a runner past second base.
Burnell finished the tournament with an impressive 4-0 record and a
2.76 earned-run average.
Freshman Allyse Ledford, who batted .556 with a home run and
three runs scored, was named the tournament’s most
outstanding defensive player. Ledford did not make an error in 25
total chances at second base for the Penguins, who did not make an
error the entire tournament.
Burnell tossed a complete game with three strikeouts and
freshman Kristen McDonnell went 3-for-4 with a double to lead
Youngstown State to a 3-2 victory over Illinois-Chicago to earn a
berth in the title game of the 2006 Horizon League Softball
Championship.
The Penguins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the
first inning on Bedra’s sacrifice fly to center field. After
Becky Hibner walked, McDonnell doubled down the left field line to
move Hibner to third. Jamie Fornal walked to load the based and
Hibner scored on Bedra’s fly out.
The Flames quickly knotted the game on Nikki Shepard’s
two-out infield single in the bottom half of the inning.
YSU regained the lead with two runs in the top of the second
frame. Ledford led off the inning with an infield single and moved
to second on Lacy Bronson’s sacrifice bunt. After Bethany
Hafley reached on an error, Patteson drove in Ledford with a single
to the right side and advanced Hafley to third. Hafley scored on a
wild pitch while Patteson stole second and advanced to third on the
same pitch but was stranded at third.
Burnell held the Flames at bay stranding 10 runners, including
two runners in the fourth, one in the fifth, and three in the
sixth. UIC plated one run n the bottom of the seventh on Liz
Jacoby’s single to center field, but Burnell induced Shepard
to hit into a fielder’s choice and Nicole Robinson to line
out to second base to end the game.
Bedra belted two home runs to lead Youngstown State to a 6-4
victory over Wright State to advance to the winner’s bracket
final. Bedra set a new Horizon League Tournament record with four
home runs.
With the game tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the third inning,
Bedra led off the frame with her third home run of the tournament
to give the Penguins a 5-4 advantage. In the bottom of the fifth
inning, Bedra set the Horizon League Tournament homer record and
gave the Penguins a 6-4 lead.
Wright State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the
second inning on Danielle Dean’s two-out double.
The Penguins, who managed just five hits, answered with four
unearned runs in the bottom half of the frame. After Bedra walked
and Ledford singled, Bronson’s sacrifice bunt and a Raider
error scored Bedra and moved Ledford to third.
Lacey Hess walked to load the bases and Patteson, who went
2-for-4, singled to plate Ledford and Bronson. Back-to-back walks
to Hibner and McDonnell gave the Penguins a 4-2 lead.
Bedra hit two of Youngstown State’s school-record four
home runs and the Penguins banged out 15 hits in a 12-3 victory
over Detroit in the first round of the Horizon League
Tournament.
The Penguins jumped on the Titans early with three runs in the
first inning capped by Bedra’s two-run home run. Patteson,
who went 3-for-3, led off the game with a double to left field,
moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Jamie
Fornal’s single to left field. Fornal, who went 3-for-4 with
four runs batted in, scored on Bedra’s home run.
Detroit answered with a Kristen Martin home run in the bottom
half of the first to cut the lead to 3-1, the Penguins sent 10
players to the plate and scored five runs in the top of the second
to extend their lead to 8-1.
Hess doubled to right-center field to lead off the frame
and scored on a Detroit fielding error. After McDonnell singled
Bedra blasted a three-run home run over the left-center field fence
making the score 7-1. Ledford followed with her second home run of
the year to push the YSU lead to seven, 8-1.
Fornal’s fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot,
in the top of the third inning gave the Penguins an 11-1
advantage.
The Penguins added another run in the top of the fifth on
Ledford’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Detroit added two runs in the bottom of the fifth and left two
runners on base when the game ended because of the eight-run
rule.
