March 30, 2003
Box Score
Chicago, Ill.- UIC dropped the rubber game of a three-game series with Loyola on Sunday afternoon, falling 3-2 at Loyola Softball Park.
All three games in the series were decided by one run as the Flames fall to 8-25 on the year and 1-2 in the Horizon League. The Ramblers, meanwhile, improve to 15-9, 2-1 in league play.
Sophomore Erin Cunningham led off the third inning with her first career home run, a long blast to left field off UIC starter Alycia Creese, for the Ramblers first run.
Junior Amanda Rivera (2-for-3) answered back for the Flames in the top of the fourth, though, with a towering two-out, two-run homer off the apartment building, which sits 50 feet beyond the left field wall. It was Rivera's fourth home run of the season and gave UIC a 2-1 lead.
Loyola would take the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning when an error by UIC third baseman Sara Hernandez led to a pair of Rambler runs.
With one out and a runner on second, Hernandez fielded a ground ball off the bat of Loyola's Tricia Oberhaus. Hernandez opted to throw behind the runner at second, but an errant throw rolled all the way to the outfield wall, allowing Allison Scanlin to score from second and Oberhaus to move all the way to third.
Oberhaus would score one batter later on a sacrifice fly by Katie Blackmore for a 3-2 Rambler advantage.
Creese, who allowed three runs, one earned, in five innings on six hits, was the tough-luck loser, falling to 1-4 on the year. Rookie Lindsey LaChiana (5-3) picked up the win for Loyola, allowing just five hits in seven innings in the circle.
The Flames will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Evanston, Ill., to take on Northwestern in a single game at 3:00 p.m.
