Feb. 24, 2012

Box Score - Idaho State

Box Score - UC Riverside

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Melinda Macias (Chino, Calif./Don Antonio Lugo) and Coryn Schmit (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) each recorded two hits in the Flames 5-2 victory over Idaho State, while the UIC softball team (5-7/0-0 Horizon League) fell in the fifth inning, 9-1, to UC Riverside on Friday at Amy S. Harrison Field.

GAME ONE

Idaho State started off the game in the lead, as they scored an unearned run in the first inning. They went on to take another in the second, but it would be the last they would score for the rest of the game.

Coming out in the third, the Flames powered through to garner their first three runs of the game. Courtney Heeley (Glendale, Ariz./Greenway) started off as the first base runner of the inning after she was walked. She was advanced to second after Macias hit a single to left field. Schmit then hit a double to center to bring in Heeley and Macias, tying the game at two. With just one out, Jacki Fletcher (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) grounded out to second and brought in Schmit, allowing the Flames to score their last run of the inning and go up 3-2.

The momentum stayed in UIC's favor, as Heeley made an outstanding defensive play with a diving catch in left to make the first out in the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Schmit stepped up to the plate and drove the ball to left for a lead-off home run, registering her third RBI and scoring for the second time. Later in the inning with two outs, a throwing error by Idaho State allowed Erica Hampton (Wichita, Kan./Bishop Carroll) to advance to second and for Kara Komp (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West), pinch runner for Fletcher, to score.

Devin Miller (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) registered six strikeouts, three looking, improving her record to 4-3 on the season.

GAME TWO

UC Riverside struck first, in the first, with a home run from Brittany Keeney. In the second, the Highlanders executed two consecutive bunts to bring in a run.

The Flames collected their first hit in the third, with a double by Macias to left-center. She was followed with a single by Melissa Preish (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) to left, but both runners were left on base as the inning came to a close.

UCR was able to come up with two more runs in the third after collecting three hits in the inning.

At the top of the fourth, Komp came in as a pinch runner after Fletcher hit a single to center. She first advanced off a passed ball to go to second, then moved on to third after a wild pitch. Komp ultimately scored the Flames' run of the game on a throwing error by the Highlanders.

Miller came in for Ashley Hewett (La Palma, Calif./John F. Kennedy) during the fourth, where UCR scored three more. The game came to an end in the fifth, after the Highlanders scored two additional runs and took the game 9-1.

The Flames return to action Saturday morning at Amy S. Harrison Field to face South Dakota at 11 a.m. (CT).