2008 Woodie Awards
Balschmiter goes down, Sanders picks up save
Minutewomen hang on against Lehigh, advance to regional championship for rematch with Stanford
By Jeremy Rice, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 5/13/08 Section: Sports
It would have made for one heck of a marathon, but one heck of a softball game, preceded by three other softball games, will have to suffice.
The Massachusetts softball team played three games Saturday in the NCAA Amherst Regional, defeating Princeton, 6-0 to advance to the second round where Stanford and pitcher Missy Penna upended the Minutewomen, 3-0. UMass fought back, however, with a 3-1 victory over Lehigh despite losing ace pitcher Brandice Balschmiter to an ankle injury in the final elimination game to advance to tomorrow's championship round.
The Minutewomen and the Cardinal will square off tomorrow at noon. UMass will have to win back-to-back games over Stanford to advance to the Super Regionals, as the Cardinal has yet to lose a game in the double-elimination tournament.
Through 12-and-a-half hours of softball, the Minutewomen had a somewhat comfortable 3-0 lead on fourth-seeded Lehigh in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sarah Reeves blasted a two-run home run in the top of the inning to break open a 1-0 game, and Balschmiter was pitching better than she had all day (one hit, one walk, five strikeouts, no runs through 5 1/3 innings).
Then Balschmiter hit the dirt inside the pitcher's circle, hitting batter Kate Marvel in the process. Balschmiter's left foot caught a divot and slid out from under her, spraining her ankle. She immediately went down and had to be carrier off the field.
"I was mad," Balschmiter said of suffering the injury. "I didn't want anything to go wrong and not be on the field, but Bailey came in and did a great job and I really appreciate her picking up where I left off."
Sanders entered with one out in the sixth and retired the next two batters, but things got hairier for her and the Minutewomen in the seventh. Trailing by three, the Mountain Hawks rallied, with Lisa Sweeney and Whitney Lowe delivering back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.
Megan Conrad grounded out to the shortstop, Whitney Williams, but advanced the runners into scoring position, and then Sanders walked Brooke Lewis to load the bases. Lehigh got on the board with a sacrifice grounder when Alisha Gonzales brought in Sweeney on another bouncer to Williams.
The Massachusetts softball team played three games Saturday in the NCAA Amherst Regional, defeating Princeton, 6-0 to advance to the second round where Stanford and pitcher Missy Penna upended the Minutewomen, 3-0. UMass fought back, however, with a 3-1 victory over Lehigh despite losing ace pitcher Brandice Balschmiter to an ankle injury in the final elimination game to advance to tomorrow's championship round.
The Minutewomen and the Cardinal will square off tomorrow at noon. UMass will have to win back-to-back games over Stanford to advance to the Super Regionals, as the Cardinal has yet to lose a game in the double-elimination tournament.
Through 12-and-a-half hours of softball, the Minutewomen had a somewhat comfortable 3-0 lead on fourth-seeded Lehigh in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sarah Reeves blasted a two-run home run in the top of the inning to break open a 1-0 game, and Balschmiter was pitching better than she had all day (one hit, one walk, five strikeouts, no runs through 5 1/3 innings).
Then Balschmiter hit the dirt inside the pitcher's circle, hitting batter Kate Marvel in the process. Balschmiter's left foot caught a divot and slid out from under her, spraining her ankle. She immediately went down and had to be carrier off the field.
"I was mad," Balschmiter said of suffering the injury. "I didn't want anything to go wrong and not be on the field, but Bailey came in and did a great job and I really appreciate her picking up where I left off."
Sanders entered with one out in the sixth and retired the next two batters, but things got hairier for her and the Minutewomen in the seventh. Trailing by three, the Mountain Hawks rallied, with Lisa Sweeney and Whitney Lowe delivering back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.
Megan Conrad grounded out to the shortstop, Whitney Williams, but advanced the runners into scoring position, and then Sanders walked Brooke Lewis to load the bases. Lehigh got on the board with a sacrifice grounder when Alisha Gonzales brought in Sweeney on another bouncer to Williams.
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