Feb. 17, 2007

Final Stats

Henderson, Nev. - Illinois played a wild back and forth affair with defending Mid-Continent champion Southern Utah on Friday night near Las Vegas. A game that saw the lead change hands six times ended in an 11-10 Illinois victory. The Illini continued to hit the ball around in a 10-2, 5-inning victory over Oklahoma State in their second game at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic.

The offensive firepower on the day was generated by many players on the club led by catcher Lana Armstrong. The sophomore reached base five of six times at the plate, hit two home runs, had a triple and tallied nine RBI in the two games. Armstrong improved her batting average to .615 and her on-base percentage to .722 through the first seven games of the season.

"You can't see the ball any better than Lana did today," said Illinois head coach Terri Sullivan. "Her pitch selection was where we want it to be and her confidence level is high right now."

The victories improve Illinois to 5-2 on the season ahead of two tough games on Saturday against BYU and No. 1 Tennessee.

"We accomplished our goal coming into the day of winning two games," noted Sullivan. "It was a hard fought day. The first game was important because it showed you have to play for seven innings and hang in there even when you're not at your best. It was a great learning experience for our team."

Indeed, the victory over Southern Utah was as entertaining of a game as you will see, but both teams had trouble executing defensively, combining for seven errors. In fact, just three of the 11 runs given up by Southern Utah pitching were earned.

Still both teams had to come up with some timely hitting, which they did. The offensive firepower included a combined five home runs, two by Illinois. Junior third baseman Shanna Diller led off the third inning with a solo shot to left answering a two-run shot by the Thunderbirds' McKell Ashton in the bottom of the second.

With Illinois in front 5-3, SUU's Erin Niederhauser launched a two-out fifth-inning grand slam to put the Thunderbirds ahead 7-5. The Illini took the back the lead with a five-run sixth-inning highlighted by a towering three-run home run from Armstrong only see Southern Utah's Bobbi Jo Merrill knot the game up at 10-10 with a three-run shot of her own in the bottom of the sixth. The Illini tallied another unearned run in the seventh to take the lead for good, but not before Southern Utah (2-4) loaded the bases with one out. Ashley Wright picked up her first save by forcing a pair of ground outs to end the game.

Illinois used a pair of big innings to dispose of Oklahoma State (3-4). The Illini scored five in the third inning and five more in the fourth. Eight Illinois runners reached base by either the walk or the hit batsman in four Illinois times at-bat. Armstrong had big hits in both onslaughts, a three-run triple to right field in the third, then her second homer of the night, a three-run blast in the fourth. Junior shortstop Angelena Mexicano also went yard with a two-run blast in the fourth.

"Our line-up top to bottom had a lot of people step up," Sullivan said. "We didn't settle for a run here and a run there."