Western Kentucky Upends Upstate in Tuscaloosa Regional
5/17/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Game Box (PDF) | Postgame Press Conference Audio
Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Western Kentucky starting pitcher Emily Rousseau limited Upstate to just two hits en route to leading the Lady Toppers to a 3-0 victory over USC Upstate in the opening game of the Tuscaloosa Regional.
Upstate fell to 41-11 with the loss and will play Jacksonville State Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Central at Rhoads Stadium in the first elimination game of the regional. Jacksonville State fell, 4-0, to defending national champion Alabama Friday night.
Rousseau improved to 25-6 on the year with the win after striking out four and limiting the Upstate hitters. She retired the side in order in every inning but the third and seventh. WKU advanced to play Alabama at 1:00 p.m. Central at Rhoads Stadium.
"I think we were jittery in the beginning and settled down a bit. They have a very good third baseman. That was a very good pitcher. She mixed it up well and kept us off balance. We had a couple of chances to get to her. We hit the ball well, just right at people. That's about the sum of it. It was good to come out and play in this atmosphere. Hopefully, we will learn from what we didn't do today and get it done tomorrow." said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins.
After Upstate went down in order in the top of the first, Western Kentucky struck early when leadoff hitter Preslie Cruce hit a solo home run to right field to give the Lady Toppers a 1-0 lead. It was her 13th homer of the season. Olivia Watkins reached base on a walk and stole second with one out. However, Spartan starter Jamie Ujvari (Niceville, Fla.) settled in and retired the next two batters to get out of the inning.
Upstate had a hard time figuring out Rousseau early in the game. Rousseau, who entered the game with a 24-6 record and 1.66 ERA, retired the side in order in the first two innings. After Rousseau sat down seven in a row to start the game, Jessica Ujvari (Niceville, Fla.) broke through with an infield single up the middle.
Hayley Reinfeld (Parkland, Fla.) reached on an error by Rousseau on an attempted sacrifice bunt to put runners on first and second with one out. Rousseau got out the inning on a line out to the shortstop and a strikeout. It would be the best opportunity the Spartans had to score in the game.
After allowing the solo home run to start the bottom of the first, Ujvari was solid for the better part of the rest of the game. She got out of the first without any further damage and retired the side in order in the second. She allowed a walk to Cruce with one out in the third and left her stranded at second to end the inning.
Rousseau came back with a solid effort in the fourth, retiring Upstate in order. Maddison Kieffer (Middleburg, Fla.) hit her second long fly ball to center, but Lady Topper center fielder Katrina Metoyer tracked it down as she did in the second inning. The Spartans went down in order again in the fifth as Rousseau eased into the latter stages of the game having only allowed one hit through five innings.
WKU led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. After Ujvari got the first out of the inning with a fly out to left, Cruce again came up big for the Lady Toppers. She hit her second home run of the game, this time a two-run shot to center, to give WKU a 3-0 advantage. Ericka Harris (Piedmont, S.C.) ended the fifth by throwing out Watkins attempting to steal second. It was the 51st time Harris has thrown out a runner in her career.
Upstate could not push anything across in either the sixth or seventh innings as WKU took the win. Kieffer singled up the middle with two outs in the seventh, but the Spartans couldn't move her over.
Ujvari took the loss to fall to 19-4 on the year. She allowed three runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
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