Feb. 17, 2002
Box Score
Columbia, Mo. - There must be something about the 'Show Me State'.
For the second straight season, the UIC softball team made a weekend stop for a tournament in Missouri and for the second straight year the Flames came home with a title. This time claiming the championship at the Mizzou Round Robin hosted by the University of Missouri by posting a pair of wins over Western Illinois on Sunday afternoon.
In the final game of round robin play the Flames (6-3) shutout the Westerwinds, 3-0. They then downed WIU, 8-6, on sophomore Amanda Rivera's walk-off, two-run homer in the championship contest of the tournament.
"This weekend was very successful," UIC co-head coach Sarah O'Malley-Fisher, whose team claimed the Southeast Missouri State Softball Classic title last year, said. "We never gave up and showed a lot of heart."
In game one, sophomores Alison Aguilar and Alycia Creese combined to twirl the Flames' first shutout of the year in the 3-0 victory.
Aguilar tossed 2 2/3 innings before giving way to Creese, who bounced back from a tough start on Saturday to pick up the her fourth win of the season. Creese allowed just two hits while striking out one on the day.
Rivera gave UIC all the scoring it would need in the top of the third inning with a long three-run single.
Senior Jennifer Tiffany set the table for the Flames versus WIU, going 3-for-4 at the plate.
The two teams would meet just hours later in the championship game of the tournament with UIC watching an early lead slip away only to pull out a dramatic 8-6 win.
Rivera's two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh was the game-winner, but it was one of just three home runs for the Flames on the day. Amber Stachura (2-for-3, 3RBI) tagged her fourth long ball of the tournament while freshman Sara Hernandez notched the first homer of her career.
Three Flames pitchers saw action versus WIU with Aguilar (2-2) coming on in relief to pick up her second win of the tournament, after allowing just one run in three innings of work.
UIC, which lead 2-0 after the first inning and 5-1 after three, found itself trailing 6-5 heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Flames tied the game in the bottom of the frame, though, then won it on Rivera's heroics in the seventh.
Rivera paved the way for the Flames on Sunday, going 3-for-7 at the dish with a home run and six RBI. She finished the tournament with a staggering .538 average and 10 RBI.
Tiffany and Stachura also had strong weekends for UIC. Tiffany totaled a .588 average out of the leadoff spot while Stachura went 6-for-14 at the plate with four home runs and 10 RBI. The four home runs tied her previous single-season best.
UIC will look for another tournament title next weekend as they travel to Columbus, Ga., to compete in the early season's most prestigious event, the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
The Flames pool at the event includes a pair of top 20 teams in #12 Nebraska and #4 LSU. UIC kicks off the classic on Friday with the Cornhuskers at 11:00 a.m.
