With Camunas, Howland on the mound, Wildcats take doubleheader in softball home opener.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 8, 2000) — UK pitchers Keary Camunas andJennifer Howland pitched back-to-back one-hitshutouts as the Cats swept the doubleheader withMorehead State in UK’s home opener Wednesdayafternoon at the UK Softball Complex.
“I felt like we really showed up ready to play from thefirst pitch in game one,” UK coach Beth Kirchnersaid. “After we played well in game one, we turnedaround and were ready to play from the first pitch inthe second game, which made me very happy.
“We had two good pitching performances, we hit theball well and played good defense.”
Camunas struck out eight batters, while Nikki Jones,Beth Fogle, and Jamie Dardis added two hits apieceas UK defeated the Eagles, 5-0, in the first game.
After a leadoff double by Leslie Kwiatkowski to startthe second, Tiffany Kruse moved Kwiatkowski to thirdon a sacrifice bunt. Angie Dal Pozzo followed with afielder’s choice, scoring Kwiatkowski from third. AndiEilertson’s RBI single to left, scored Dal Pozzo fromsecond base. Jones singled to center field asEilertson scored to give the Cats a 3-0 lead.
UK, who pounded out ten hits in the game, added twomore runs in the bottom of the sixth on Jen Howland’sRBI double and Jones’ run scoring triple, as the Catssnapped a three-game losing streak. Camunasimproved to 4-7, while MSU’s Nikki Scott dropped to1-3.
In the second game, UK (9-12) continued its hothitting, taking a 4-0 lead highlighted by Kruse’ssecond triple of the year.
Dal Pozzo led off the bottom of the fourth with a double to right center andadvanced to third on a wild pitch by MSU pitcher Pam Crawford. Dal Pozzoscored as Jamie Dardis grounded out to second, increasing the UK lead to 5-0.
In the fifth, Kruse’s two-run single to center scored Jones and Kwiatkowski. UKpinch hitter Sandi Dengler collected her third hit of the season, an RBI double,scoring Kruse from first base, as the Cats captured a 8-0 victory over the Eagles(2-6) in five innings due to the eight-run rule.
Kruse led the Cats at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runsscored. Howland, who improved to 4-4, recorded her team-high third shutout ofthe season, while striking out three batters and walking two.
UK returns to action this weekend when the Cats play host to the KentuckyInvitational, March 11-12, at the UK Softball Complex. On Saturday, the Catswill take on Northern Illinois at 11 a.m. and Evansville at 1 p.m.
R H EMSU 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 1 0UK 0 3 0 0 0 2 x5 10 0WP - Camunas (4-7) and AngusLP - Scott (1-3) and Hoying, Lanzi.2B - Kwiatkowski (UK), Howland (UK).3B - Jones (UK). Records - MSU (2-5); UK (8-12). R H EMSU 0 0 0 0 00 1 0UK 4 0 0 1 3 8 7 0WP - Howland (4-4) and AngusLP - Crawford (1-2) and Sturm.2B - Dal Pozzo (UK). Dengler (UK).3B - Kruse (UK). Records - MSU (2-6); UK (9-12).
