March 26, 2006

Stats

DETROIT, Mich. - The Wayne State softball team (8-14) scored in each of the first four innings, including nine runs in the second, on its way to a 14-1 victory over the University of Findlay (3-16).

With the win, the Warriors advance to the championship game of the WSU Invitational. They will meet the Hillsdale Chargers, who rallied to defeat Wayne State, 4-3, on Saturday in the first round robin game.

An RBI double by Sarah Berry and a sacrifice fly by Jordan Sinclair put the Warriors up, 2-0, at the end of the first inning.

Sarah Kish got the nine-run second started with a single up the middle. Sue Verbeem was hit by a pitch for the second time in as many at-bats, and both runners advanced a base on Becky Quinn's sacrifice bunt. Kish would score on a passed ball, and following a walk to Robyn Haig, Berry hit an RBI single to right.

Lindsey Perry drove in two runs with a triple to right, and Sinclair reached on an infield single. Amanda Dowe brought home Perry with a double, forcing Findlay starter Michele Jordan from the game in favor of Katie Yarnell.

WSU continued to swing hot bats, however, as Anna Schneider hit an RBI single to left and Kish, who started the big inning for the Warriors, hit a three-run homer to left. By the end of the inning, Wayne State held an 11-0 lead.

Katie Facecchia, who entered the game in the top of the third, hit an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the inning to increase WSU's lead to 12-0.

Findlay's Danielle Lowe ended the shutout bid for WSU starter Sarah Ytsma with a solo home run to left in the fourth inning.

Wayne State got two more runs in the bottom of the fourth when Lisa Seymour scored on a wild pitch and Perry hit an RBI double to center.

Per the eight-run rule, the game was official after Findlay's at-bats in the fifth inning, as Wayne State clinched a spot in the championship game of the tournament.

Ytsma (3-4) went all five innings, allowing just one run on two hits. She walked one and struck out one.