May 5, 2007

Box Score

EAST PEORIA, Ill. - Mallory Paine broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the top of the seventh inning, and the No. 7 Flyers added three more runs in the frame to secure 6-2 win over Missouri-Rolla, Saturday afternoon in a Great Lakes Valley Conference elimination game. The win sends Lewis to the GLVC Championship game for a second straight season.

Julie Wingerter (9-5) turned in a gem of a pitching performance for Lewis, yielding just two hits and one earned run. She gave up a lead-off home run to Kandi Wieberg, the GLVC Player of the Year, in the first and allowed a lead-off double in the fourth. Wingerter put the Lady Miners down in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh.

The Flyers' seventh-inning rally started when Beth Shelus singled with one out. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score when Paine dumped a shallow pop fly down the line in right. Christine Juehne pinch-ran for Paine and stole second in the next at-bat. Kelly Dianis then singled to center to advance Juehne to third.

With Kristy Vanek at the plate, Dianis broke for second on a steal. Missouri-Rolla's catcher threw toward second, but the throw was cut-off in front of the bag by second basemen Weiberg. Juehne broke for home on the throw and slid in ahead of the throw back to the plate from Weiberg. Dianis advanced to third on the play.

On the next pitch, Vanek squared to bunt and Dianis broke for home. Vanek's bunt couldn't have been better placed. The ball rolled just a few feet out in front of home, and died. Nobody in the Missouri-Rolla infield had a play. Dianis scored, and Vanek reached first without a throw. Vanek's hit was the 157th of her career, putting her in a tie for 10th on the all-time Lewis career list.

Carla Musillo, who was 3-for-4 in the game, came up next and drove a deep fly ball to right center that missed clearing the fence by inches. The ball hit the protective plastic guard on the top of the outfield fence and fell back in play. Musillo wound up on second with a double, notching an RBI in the process.

Lewis' first run of the game came in the second inning when Christina Willis plated Musillo, who had tripled earlier in the inning. The Flyers tied the score 2-2 in the fifth when Dianis registered an RBI single that scored Shelus from third.

The top-seeded Flyers (34-11) will face No. 2 seed Southern Illinois Edwardsville on Sunday at 1 pm in a rematch of the 2006 GLVC Championship game.

The Cougars, who advanced to the championship game by beating Lewis 5-0 earlier in the day, are undefeated in the double-elimination tournament, meaning Lewis would have to win twice to secure the league title. Game two, if necessary, would be played immediately following the 1 pm game.