April 9, 2000
Box Score
Indianapolis, Ind. -Rory Gonzales-Gould and Maral Binnebose provided a dominant one-two punch on the mound, while Edel Leyden, Emily Hallman and Kathy Casey came through with clutch hits as the 25th-ranked UIC softball team swept a doubleheader from Butler Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. The Flames took the first game 2-0, then outlasted the Bulldogs in the second game, 1-0, in 10 innings.
"Playing across the country, in different weather conditions, with different umpires, and having to make those adjustments on many occasions really paid off for us today," Head Coach Mike McGovern commented. "There were 35-mile-per-hour winds and about 41 stoppages in play because of dust swirls. We ended up getting great performances by our pitching staff and some key two-out hits."
Gonzales-Gould shut Butler down in the first game, scattering five hits in her seven innings of work. It was her team-high tying sixth shutout of the season as she improved to 18-10 on the year.
Hallman gave the Flames the only run they would need in the third inning as she fouled of several pitches before delivering a two-out RBI single that scored Leyden. In the sixth inning, Casey gave UIC an insurance run, tabbing a two-out run scoring single of her own.
Stefanie Christoferson made a bit of history of her own in the first game with hits in her first two at bats. The junior catcher, who went 4-for-4 in the Flames' last game versus Loyola, set an unofficial school record by collecting six hits in six consecutive plate appearances.
The second game of the twin bill was all Binnebose as she pitched 10 innings, allowing just one hit while collecting her second career shutout. The sophomore lefty didn't allow a hit through the first 8 1/3 innings, only to have her no-hit bid ended with a looping single into right field.
Butler's Melissa Bentel matched Binnebose, though, as she kept UIC off the scoreboard through the first nine frames.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, though, pinch hitter Kelly Chenoweth opened the frame with a sacrifice bunt but which moved Emily Webster, who started in frame at second base under international tiebreaker rules, over to third base. After Binnebose struck out swinging, Edel Leyden secured the Flames' sweep with a clutch single up the middle to end the game, 1-0.
The two wins helped improve the Flames to 37-20 overall and 3-1 in the MCC. McGovern's squad has a busy week ahead of it with six games slated, starting with a trip to Evanston on Wednesday for a 3:00 p.m. doubleheader with Northwestern. UIC is back at home on Thursday, taking on Eastern Illinois at 3:00 p.m.
