April 7, 2006

Box Score

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Undone by Western Michigan's five-run second inning, the Miami University softball team (14-23; 1-4 MAC) fell to the Broncos, 5-3, at Fran Ebert Field on Friday afternoon. Despite a 3-for-4 effort from senior Kristen Hays (Phoenix, Ariz.) and a seventh-inning, two-run home run from sophomore Jamie Arundel (Tonka Bay, Minn.), Western Michigan's five-run inning stood up as it took game one of a doubleheader.

Both teams went quietly in the first inning before Western Michigan jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second. After a pair of singles and a one-out walk loaded the bases, Danielle Daughtry plated a pair of runs with a bloop single to leftfield. A single and an intentional walk filled the bases again for the Broncos before Amanda Heckaman's single pushed across two more runs. Kyla Sullivan's bloop single in no man's land behind second base scored the final run of the inning and put Miami in a five-run hole. Western Michigan hit only two balls hard in the inning as three walks aided the scoring rally.

Miami managed a pair of singles by Hays and junior Leslie Macedo (Livermore, Calif.) the first time through the order before putting its first runner in scoring position in the top of the third. With two outs in the frame, freshman Ashley Gartland (Tempe, Ariz.) and Hays strung together back-to-back singles, but a groundout ended the inning.

Macedo drove in Miami's first run of the game in the top of the sixth to cut Western Michigan's lead 5-1. After Hays led off the inning with her third hit of the game, a single through the right side, she was lifted for junior pinch runner Ashley Nieman (Richmond, Mich.). Nieman moved to second on a two-out balk before Macedo drove in her team-leading 28th run of the season with a single to the rightfield gap. Macedo was thrown out at second trying to stretch her hit into a double, but Nieman crossed the plate before Macedo was put out at second.

In the top of the seventh, Miami mounted a comeback behind the bat of Arundel. Sophomore Breanna Robinson (Toledo, Ohio) led off the seventh with a single through the left side, and Arundel promptly sliced Western Michigan's lead to 5-3 with a two-run blast to leftfield. On a 0-1 pitch from Krysten Shumaker, who owned the lowest ERA in the MAC (0.95) heading into the game, Arundel clubbed her fourth home run of the season and put Miami within two runs. A one-out double from sophomore Halle Popson (Solon, Ohio) then brought the tying run to the plate, but Miami could not complete the comeback as a strikeout and flyout ended the game.

Hays (3-for-4), Macedo (2-for-3) and Robinson (2-for-3) all notched multi hits games for the RedHawks. In the circle, freshman Kelly Cabana (Irvine, Calif.) tossed her sixth consecutive complete game but was saddled with the loss (4-12), allowing five runs in six innings.

Miami plays game two of its doubleheader with Western Michigan at 5:15 p.m.

GAME NOTES: JR Leslie Macedo is now two RBIs shy of the Miami single season record. Her sixth inning single drove in her 28th run of the season, two away from tying Shawnda Moye's 1998 single-season mark of 30.