Softball

March 10, 2002

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman Meghan Cooper threw a five-hit, complete-game shutout and senior Angie Dal Pozzo went 1-for-3 with two RBI as the Wildcats won their long-awaited home opener, 6-0, over the visiting Ohio Bobcats to open up play on the second day of the University of Kentucky Invitational Tournament at the UK Softball Complex on Sunday, March 10.

UK scored two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth as the Wildcats ran their winning streak to five games with the win over Ohio. Juniors Nikki Jones and Lyndsey Angus each scored two runs, each crossing the plate on a Dal Pozzo triple in the sixth, upping the UK lead to 5-0 at the time.

“You can’t say enough about the innings Meghan Cooper has given us already this season,” UK Coach Beth Kirchner said. “She came ready to go again this morning and provided us with a solid seven innings of work.”

UK’s second game had a different flavor to it as the Wildcats found themselves down 5-0 to Kent State after two innings. After the Golden Flashes scored two more runs in the fourth, the Wildcats mounted a comeback in the fifth, narrowing the margin to two runs, 7-5. Sophomore Rachel Friberg pushed across two of the runs as she hit her first home run of the season and second of her career, a two-run shot to dead-center, scoring senior Andy Eilertson, who had earlier singled home Angus.

It was not enough, though, as the Golden Flashes tacked on another run in the sixth to make it 8-5 KSU. Senior Jennifer Howland (4-1) was saddled with her first loss of the season, allowing seven runs during 2.2 innings of work.

The Kentucky defense did not do much to help itself out, committing six errors and allowing three unearned runs, dropping UK’s record to 13-8.

“We need to start playing cleaner defense,” Kirchner said. “We need to decide we will make plays when things are not going well.”

In the rest of the day’s action, Eastern Kentucky downed Kent State, 7-3, behind three home runs, two from Amber Berthoud, to finish the tournament 2-0. Kent State finished the tournament 1-2. The final game of the tournament was a 3-1 decision in favor of Ohio over Illinois State. Ohio finished the tournament 1-2 while the Redbirds finished up 1-1.

For the weekend, six games were lost due to the inclement weather, but it could have been many more had it not been for the excellent work that the field crew did and the outstanding playing surface that is already in place.

“I really want to thank the field crew for all their hard work this weekend,” Kirchner said. “Had it not been for them out there in the cold and the rain, we would never have been able to pull off the six games that we did get in.”

The Wildcats will be back in action on Tuesday, March 12, when they travel to Ohio State for a double-header with the Buckeyes. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.


Kentucky???sup>TMs Line ScoresGame OneKentucky        0002130-6 5 4Ohio            0000000-0 5 5WP: Cooper (6-2). LP: Wood (0-2). S: none.

Game TwoKentucky 0000500-5 7 6Kent State 050201X-8 6 1WP: Leary (3-0). LP: Howland (4-1). S: none.


Complete UKIT ResultsSaturday’s Results

Illinois State 1, Kent State 0Eastern Kentucky 3, Ohio 0

Sunday’s ResultsKentucky 6, Ohio 0Kent State 8, Kentucky 5Eastern Kentucky 7, Kent State 3Ohio 3, Illinois State 1


-UK-

Related Stories

View all