Feb. 17, 2006

Box Score

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Led by a trio of sophomores who clubbed their first home runs of the season, the Miami University softball team (3-2) pounded out a season-high 12 runs and 17 hits in a 12-4, run-rule victory over George Mason. Sophomores Jamie Arundel (Tonka Bay, Minn.), Christine Bills (Canal Fulton, Ohio) and Kimberly Williams (Circleville, Ohio) each left the yard as Miami had four different players finish with multi-RBI games.

In its opening game at the Troy Cox Invitational, five different players had multi-hit efforts for Miami, including junior Leslie Macedo's (Livermore, Calif.) second 4-for-4 game of the season, as the RedHawks run-ruled an opponent for the first time this season. Freshman Alexis Javier (Whittier, Calif.) also had a perfect day at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 and giving her six hits in her first eight collegiate at-bats.

George Mason took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as a one-out, sacrifice fly plated its first run, but Miami evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning on Macedo's two-out RBI single. Speedy freshman slapper Ashley Gartland (Tempe, Ariz.) beat out a grounder to the shortstop to lead off the inning, and after moving to second on a sacrifice bunt, Macedo ripped a single to leftfield, plating Miami's first run.

Three runs in the top of the second put the Patriots back in front, 4-1, as four hits and a RedHawks' error helped George Mason to a three-run advantage, but Miami scored 11 unanswered runs over the final four innings en route to its run-rule win.

The RedHawks' sticks came alive in the bottom of the second as they sent ten batters to the plate, scoring five runs on six hits. Arundel started the scoring barrage as she led off the inning with a solo home run, her first of the season and third of her career, and RBIs from Gartland, senior Bianca Paz (Mesilla, N.M.) and Macedo put Miami in front, 6-4. Following Gartland's RBI single up the middle, a throwing error scored Javier and tied the game at 4-4. Miami regained the lead for good on a Paz sacrifice fly, and another run-scoring single from Macedo pushed across Miami's final run of the frame.

After a solo home run by Bills in the bottom of the third extended Miami's lead to 7-4, the RedHawks batted around again in the fourth, banging out six hits and plating four runs in the inning. Sophomore Breanna Robinson's (Toledo, Ohio) RBI double started the scoring, and after a sacrifice fly by Arundel, Williams' towering home run on a 1-2 pitch proved to be the finishing blow in the game. Williams' first home run in a RedHawk uniform was a tape-measure, two-run blast that cleared the 15-foot-high batting cage located just beyond the leftfield fence.

Miami ended the game in the bottom of the fifth as a sacrifice fly by Robinson scored freshman Kelly Cabana (Irvine, Calif.), who reached base on a one-out single. It was Cabana's first collegiate hit.

Senior Courtney Salmon (Auburn, Wash.) earned her second win of the season (2-1), tossing 3.1 innings in relief of starter Melissa Kail (Frankfort, Ky.) who left the game after being hit with a line drive in the second inning. Salmon struck out three and allowed only one hit, a fifth-inning single, over the final three innings.

Miami plays its second game at the Troy Cox Invitational against Morehead State today at 4:30 p.m.

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