May 7, 2011

Box Score

WAC Tournament Bracket

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech fell 11-10 in extra innings to Utah State Saturday afternoon at Johnson Field but despite the loss the Lady Techsters earned the sixth seed in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference Tournament which starts Wednesday in Fresno.

Tech (15-37, 6-15 WAC) took two out of three from the Aggies and that coupled with Hawaii sweeping a three-game series at San Jose State earned the Lady Techsters their sixth straight WAC Tournament appearance.

Tech will face the third seed and host Fresno State Bulldogs Wednesday night at 9 p.m. CT in the first game of the double elimination WAC Tournament at Bulldog Diamond.

After struggling offensively for much of the season, head coach Sarah Dawson's team found its bats in the three games against Utah State, batting .374 with 15 extra base hits and plating 30 runs.

Saturday's slugfest against the Aggies was a microcosm of the Techsters never-say-die mentality this weekend with the WAC Tournament berth on the line as Tech fell behind 6-0 and 10-3 early in the game before fighting back to send the game into extra innings.

Utah State's Kassandra Uchida recorded a one-out game-winning single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Aggies salvaged the third and final game. However, not five minutes earlier, Hawaii completed its three-game sweep with a 3-1 win over San Jose State sending the Lady Techsters to the tournament.

The Aggies jumped out early, scoring four runs on three hits and one error in the bottom of the first off Tech starter Janna Frandrup, who was relieved by freshman Erin Kipp with one out in the first. Kipp then allowed two runs on three walks and two hits in the second as the USU lead grew to 6-0.

Tech answered in the top of the third with three runs. Kipp led off with a single and advanced to second when Kendra Harmon reached on a fielding error. With runners on first and second, pinch hitter Cassie Krieg lined a double to right field, plating a run as the lead was cut to 6-1.

Janna Frandrup and Allie Geisler both registered back-to-back RBI singles to make the score 6-3.

Senior Meghan Krieg, who threw more than 250 pitches in Friday's doubleheader sweep, came on in relief in the third and saw Utah State score four unearned runs on three hits and one costly Tech error as the Aggies pushed the advantage back out to 10-3.

In the top of the fifth inning, Tech jumped all over USU reliever Mandy Harmon, plating seven runs on five hits and two errors.

Cassie Krieg led the scoring off with her first collegiate home run - a solo blast deep over the right field fence. After Frandrup doubled and Geisler walked, Heather Doiron doubled to right center to score two runs as the lead was cut to 10-6.

With two outs and a runner on third, Molly Goza singled to make it 10-7. Freshman Katelynn Hill then drew a walk to put runners on first and second as Kipp followed with her first collegiate home run - a three-run shot - that tied the game at 10-10.

Neither team scored in the sixth or the seventh innings as the game went to extra innings where Utah State saw Kelly Kaneshiro double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and score on Uchide's single.

Krieg (10-22) took the loss, despite allowing only one earned run in 5.1 innings of relief while striking out five and allowing nine hits. Four LA Tech errors cost the Lady Techsters five unearned runs in the loss.

Kipp (2-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI), Cassie Krieg (2-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI), Frandrup (2-4, 1 RBI), Doiron (1-4, 2 RBI), and Goza (2-4, 1 RBI) led Tech's 12-hit attack.

Utah State enters the WAC Tournament as the fifth seed.