May 10, 2007

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - No. 7 seed Missouri-Rolla jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for a 5-4 victory over No. 2 seed and host Lewis Thursday in Division II Great Lakes Regional first-round action.

The teams combined to produce just three baserunners in the first three innings before Missouri-Rolla (29-16) turned six hits into four runs in the fourth.

Kelsey Musselman's one-out home run off Lewis starter Julie Wingerter (9-6) opened the floodgates. Rachel Wilkinson and Emily Tucker followed with a double and infield single, respectively, and Wilkinson scored on a single by Lauren Feltmann.

The Lady Miners plated two more runs after two were out. Allison Plummer delivered a single that scored Tucker and chased Wingerter, and Krista Porterfield greeted reliever Courtney Lyons with a single that brought Feltmann home with the fourth run.

Missouri-Rolla made it 5-0 on Ashley Winter's fifth-inning leadoff home run, but 15th-ranked Lewis rallied in the bottom of the frame and scored four runs after two were out.

Carla Musillo opened the inning with a line drive off pitcher Jen O'Hara (19-11) for a base hit, and Lisa Gartland drew a one-out walk. Christina Willis followed with her second double of the game that scored Musillo, and an error by the left fielder allowed Gartland to scamper home.

A Beth Shelus single scored Willis to bring Lewis (34-13) to within two runs. Shelus, who advanced to second on the throw home, cut the UMR lead to a single tally by scoring on Mallory Paine's single.

Lyons escaped unscathed from a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh by fanning Tucker and Feltmann. Paine coaxed a two-out walk to bring up heavy-hitting Kelly Dianis with the potential winning run, but O'Hara induced a harmless fly ball to end the game.

O'Hara allowed five hits and four walks and struck out two. Wingerter was touched for four runs and seven hits, did not walk a batter and fanned two in 3 2/3 innings, while Lyons struck out five and gave a run on four hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Musselman, Wilkinson and Feltmann all collected two hits for the Lady Miners.