April 22, 2009

Box Score

RUSTON -- Kylie Bassett hit a two-run home run and Meghan Krieg pitched her sixth shutout of the season to lead Louisiana Tech to a 2-0 win over Stephen F. Austin in softball action Wednesday evening at the Lady Techster Softball Complex.

The win snapped SFA's season-long seven game winning streak and gave the Lady Techsters (26-19) their sixth win in their last seven contests heading into Friday night's Western Athletic Conference series opener against San Jose State at 6 p.m.

The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth inning when Amberly Waits led the frame off with a line drive double over SFA rightfielder Crystal Garcia's head.

Bassett then took a 1-2 offering from SFA starter Lauren Luetge and drilled it over the right centerfield fence, giving the Lady Techsters a 2-0 lead. It was Bassett's seventh home run of the season.

Jessica Kirby then followed with a single to left field before Valerie Quiroga lined into a double play and Claire Gibson followed with a ground out to end the frame.

The two-run lead would be more than enough for Krieg, who stymied a high-powered SFA offense that entered the game with a team .287 batting average and 45 home runs.

Krieg (15-4) picked up the win, limiting the Ladyjacks (26-22) to three hits and one walk while striking out seven in the complete-game performance. The Sonora, Texas native allowed only two balls out of the infield the entire game -- a bloop single to left field by Karissa Jones in the third inning and a Briana Bishop single up the middle in the fourth inning.

In addition to the seven strikeouts, Krieg induced 11 groundouts, one infield pop up, one line out and one caught stealing for a total of 21 outs in the game.

Offensively, Waits led Tech with a 3-for-3 performance to up her WAC-leading batting average to .465, including a league-best 12th double of the season. Bassett added the two-run home run and Kirby added a single.

Luetge (9-10) was the tough-luck loser, allowing two earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out five in 6.0 innings of action.

Tech improved to 3-0 against SFA on the season.