Feb. 17, 2007
Final Stats
Henderson, Nev. -
Illinois played solid defensively against the fast top of the Tennessee order. However, the Illini fell victim to three Lady Volunteers home runs and to 17 strikeouts from All-American Monica Abbott as No. 1 Tennessee (7-0)downed Illinois, 5-0. The Illini (5-4) went 0-2 on Saturday at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, also falling to BYU, (8-2) in a slugfest, 11-9.
Illinois managed just one hit against Abbott, a first-inning infield single by Angelena Mexicano. Alexia Clay, Tonya Callahan, and Liane Horiuchi hit home runs off Illinois pitching.
Illini freshman Ashley Wright gave up just three hits in pitching the final five innings, striking out four. The top three players in the Tennessee order went a combined 0-for-9 and Illinois pitchers held the Lady Vols to just six hits.
For the second day in a row Illinois softball played a high-scoring nip-and-tuck affair. This time, however, Illinois came up a little short in an 11-9 loss to BYU.
On Friday, the Illini scored a run in the top of the seventh to win a game that featured six lead changes, 11-10, over Southern Utah. On Saturday, Illinois trailed 10-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, yet had the tying run in scoring position as the game ended.
Illinois used a pair of home runs, a three-run shot from Angelena Mexicano, her second of the season, and solo blast to dead center from Makenzie Smith to score six times in the bottom of the sixth. A sacrifice fly by Molly Lawhead, three walks and a BYU error accounted for the other run.
The Illini weren't done, however. A lead-off home run by BYU's Cortney Clark in the seventh gave the Cougars an 11-9 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Illinois' Shanna Diller delivered a one-out single to right field, Molly Lawhead reached on an error and Angelena Mexicano walked loading the bases with one out. The Illini were unable to get the runs across.
Illinois has scored 30 runs in the first three games of the tournament. BYU and Illinois combined for 21 hits, 12 walks and eight errors in a game that lasted three hours and five minutes. This coming on the heels of a 2:58 game on Friday.
Smith homered twice, her second and third of the season, and also doubled in the game. Her two run shot gave the Illini a 2-0 lead after two.
BYU blasted two home runs in the top of the third inning, a two-run shot from Emi Snow and another two-run blast from Angeline Quicocho. That highlighted a five-run inning give the Cougars a 5-2 lead.
Illinois scored an unearned to in the bottom of the third, but BYU added two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth highlighted by three doubles to go in front by seven runs.
"This was a day our team can continue to grow upon," said Illinois head coach Terri Sullivan. "BYU is one of the top hitting teams in country and we didn't come with type of defense and pitching to shut them down. We challenged our team between games and thought that Ashley Wright had one of best performances of the year and our defense was up to the task vs. Tennessee."
