March 13, 2001
Box Score
Conway, S.C. -
Behind a four-hit shutout performance by Amanda Fortune, the University of Illinois women's softball team defeated Virginia 5-0, in the Spring Chicken Classic on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. The Illini moved their tournament record to 1-2 and finish round-robin play at 4:30 p.m. vs. Coastal Carolina.
"It was a fantastic performance by Amanda and Janna (Sartini)," said Illinois head coach Terri Sullivan. "Yesterday Virginia put a lot of runs on the scoreboard and were really on a roll. Our team showed a lot of maturity bouncing back from yesterday's games and executed really well."
On her way to her third shutout of the season, Fortune struck out four batters and walked zero moving her record to 5-4 on the season.
Along with Fortune's pitching performance, the Illini offense cranked out six hits and had six walks getting in scoring position several times. Lindsey Hamma was 3-for-4 with one RBI and Erin Jones batted 2-for-2 for the Illini in a winning cause.
Illinois opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second inning. With one out and Katie O'Connell on second base, Kristie Sauter hit a sacrifice fly to center field. When O'Connell got to third base, Virginia center fielder Katie Weinberg's throw came in low and got away from third baseman Ruby Rojas. As the ball scooted away from Rojas, O'Connell advanced to home and scored to give Illinois a 1-0 lead.
The Illini scored three more runs in the bottom of the third inning. After loading the bases with no outs, Janna Sartini knocked a single up the middle to score Erin Montgomery and Jones. The Illini increased their lead to four with a RBI groundout by Katie O'Connell that scored Hamma.
Illinois wasn't done though, as they put one more run on the board in the fourth inning. With two outs Montgomery and Jones each walked to put runners on first and second. Hamma singled to left field to score Montgomery increasing the Illini lead to 5-0.
"Any situation we were put in, we were able to get the job done," said head coach Terri Sullivan. "This is a great victory and I'm really proud of our team effort."
The victory moves Illinois' overall record to 14-8, surpassing last year's team mark of 13 victories. Last year's squad finished with a 13-17 record.
