March 10, 2010

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman softball continued their strong play at home in the 2010 season, Wednesday, at Sunnyland Park. The Owls of Temple University came to town for a double-header, looking to grab a couple of wins in the central Florida. B-CU broke up their party plans, coming away with two wins. Defense made the game for B-CU in the first outing, keeping the runs down, and heading to extra innings after Temple tied up the game in the final regular inning. The Wildcats pushed in a run in the eighth on a Temple fielding error, winning 2-1. B-CU hit big early to put down the Owls in the second game, 8-4, led by Allison Garcia's two home runs in consecutive innings.

With two outs and two runners on base in a 1-1 tied eighth inning, junior Allison Garcia drove in the game-winning run on a temple fielding error at shortstop, scoring Aurelia Gamch.  Garcia went one-for-three, but had two RBI's in the opening game.

To set up for the win, Gamch got B-CU going in the eighth with a triple to right field. Cesley Tafoya walked, leading the lineup to Garcia.

Toeing the rubber to start the game, Chastity Sanders pitched five innings in game one against Temple, allowing no runs on four hits. Sanders struck out three and walked one batter.

It was a low hitting game for the Wildcats, but the four B-CU hits came at just the right times, as B-CU held a 1-0 lead through the first inning. Garcia singled to second base, pushing Ashton Hinds in for the score. Gamch, Garcia, Sabrina Ferguson, and Joana Hernandez each had one hit apiece. Joana Hernandez brought the ball down defensively at first base, collecting 11 putouts to lead the team.

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game,” said Head Coach Chris Cochran, “by what we did early in the game, and we had some good defense to get the win.”

After the extremely tight affair in the day's opener, the teams saw a completely different situation in the second game. Although Temple got on the board first in the opening inning, B-CU was quick to respond with big hitting in the next two innings.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the second, the Wildcats put their mark on the board with Allison Garcia scoring from third after a Michelle Banuelos-Smith sacrifice fly to center field. After walking Joana Hernandez, Temple allowed a single to left field by Briana Leverett to bring Sabrina Ferguson across the plate and take the lead. Reaching on an error by the Temple center fielder, Tameika Jonas sent Hernandez across the plate for another. In the final strike of the second, Ashton Hinds hit a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing Leverett home, and making the score 4-1 in favor of the Wildcats.

After holding temple to no offensive response, and only one hit, B-CU came back in the bottom of the third in a major way, tacking three more onto the advantage. Coming up as the second batter, Garcia made another score on her own, cracking a home run over the left field fence. With three runners on, Briana Leverett again found the base on a Temple error, scoring both Banuelos-Smith and Ferguson to take a 7-1 lead at home.

Temple finally got a little bit more offense rolling in the top of the fourth, collecting three runs on three hits to make the score 7-4 in favor of B-CU. However, the Wildcats responded with another home run from Garcia in the bottom of the inning, this time out of center field. Offensively, both teams went quiet from then on, with B-CU collecting no further runs and one hit, compared with Temple's two hits and no runs, sending the score final at 8-4.

“They have some good hitters on that [Temple] team,” noted Cochran. “I was happy we were able to keep them silent for a good part of the day.”

Against Temple, Garcia had an outstanding day, hitting two-of-three, including two home runs, to lead the team with three runs scored and two RBI. Leverett also made waves as the designated player, collecting two hits of her own. Chastity Sanders again claimed the start on the mound, allowing four runs on seven hits, while striking out three and walking two. Relieving her in the fifth, Garcia held it down, allowing no runs on just two hits, while walking none and collecting four strikeouts.

The 2010 edition of Wildcat Softball moves to a record of 10-13, well ahead of last season. In closing out the season with a very successful conference run, the 2009 team did not earn the tenth win until early April. Facing equally challenging competition this season, the Wildcats are already to ten and are starting to come together as a team. B-CU is currently 4-1 on the year at Sunnyland Park, and have hit at least one home run in six of their last ten games.

The Wildcats take a couple of days rest before heading back to DeLand to play as a stand-in at the Stetson Classic. The Wildcats will only play in one day of competition, facing Yale at 11:00 a.m., and Connecticut at 1:30 p.m. at Patricia Wilson Field.