April 17, 2009

Game One box

Game Two box

OXFORD, Ohio - The Miami University softball team earned a key sweep of Western Michigan Friday in a doubleheader at the Miami Softball Stadium. The RedHawks took game one 2-1 and rallied to take a 4-2 win in the nightcap. Miami is now 24-17 on the season and 10-4 in the Mid-American Conference. The Broncos are 14-16 overall and 8-4 in the MAC.

Game one was a terrific pitching duel between two of the top contenders for MAC Freshman of the year in Miami's Jessica Simpson and Western Michigan's Meredith Whitney. The RedHawks struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Meghan Mawn got on base with a double and was doubled home when Jenna McGivney hit a towering double that hit the wall in left field. Miami added another run in the bottom of the second when Alexis Javier singled home Kelly Cabana.

That would be all the runs the RedHawks would manage, but Simpson was in control of the Broncos, keeping them off the board until the top of the sixth when Lexi Jager doubled home Samantha Vargocko. Western Michigan got a leadoff single in the top of the seventh and was able to advance her to second, but Simpson got the final batter to fly out to centerfielder Kathryn Russette to preserve the 2-1 win.

Simpson pitched a complete game in earning her 17th victory of the year. She gave up five hits and had six strikeouts. McGivney was 1-for-2 with one RBI and one sacrifice at the plate.

Game two did not start out well for Miami as Jager hit a long home run off starter Meredith Linch to quickly give Western Michigan a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Linch really settled in from there, allowing only one hit over the next five innings.

The RedHawks' bats were slow to get going, but Miami exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ashley Gartland led off the inning with a walk, followed by Kelly Cabana singling and advancing to second when Gartland took third. The next two batters were out, but Meghan Mawn was able to sneak a single under the shortstop's glove that tied the game at two. Billstrom followed with a single to right field and McGivney then doubled to deep centerfield and score Mawn and Billstrom to put Miami up 4-2.

Linch gave up a leadoff double in the top of the sixth inning, but worked around it with two strikeouts and a groundout. In the top of the seventh, Western Michigan was able to load the bases on two singles and an error with two outs. Head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly then brought Simpson back in and she caught Sarah Thomas looking on a changeup for strike three to earn her second save of the season.

Linch threw six and 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits while striking out six. McGivney was 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Cabana was also 2-for-3.

The RedHawks are back in action on Saturday when they host Northern Illinois for a single game at 4 p.m.