Ball State University Athletics
Softball Falls to Two Nationally Ranked Opponents
March 11, 2006 | Softball
Softball vs. Washington
Ball State wrapped up a six-game tournament slate Saturday at the Bulldog Classic in Fresno, Calif., against a pair of nationally ranked opponents. The Cardinals gave 17th-ranked Washington all it could handle before falling 6-4 in the finale after losing to 22nd-ranked DePaul earlier in the day.
Washington jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but BSU got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the top of the second. Sarah McGregor started the scoring with a one-out infield single. She scored on Taylor Yancey's double to left center field. Abby Gross plated Yancey with her two-out double to center.
After the Huskies added another run in the third, BSU came back and knotted the score in the top of the fourth, when -- with two outs -- Cortney Patteson singled and then Gross followed with a home run over the left field fence. Washington went ahead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Cardinals had runners on second and third in the seventh, but left both runners on base.
BSU and Washington had six hits apiece. Gross led the way with two hits and three RBI. Abby Zollman, making her first collegiate appearance suffered the loss, surrendering the first four Huskies' runs. Quincy Duran pitched 3.2 innings of relief, yielding just two runs.
In the opening game of the day, DePaul scored one run in the first, six in the second and four more in the third to post the win in five innings. BSU mustered four hits. Nicki Hellem took the loss.
BSU, 4-8, is idle until a March 21 doubleheader at Butler.
