March 25, 2012

Box Score

CHICAGO - Courtney Heeley secured a 6-5 win over Cleveland State Sunday with a two-run hit in the 10th inning inside Flames Field in Chicago, Ill., to improve UIC's record to 14-14, while being 2-1 in the Horizon League.

"It was great to get the win today," head coach Michelle Venturella said. "It was a hard-fought battle between both teams. Devin (Miller) was great today, and Ashley (Hewett) came in and stopped their momentum. It was great to see the fight we had as a team, and I was happy that Courtney (Heeley) came through to score the game-winnings runs."

Devin Miller (8-9) started the contest on the mound for the Flames, and pitched through nine innings, before senior Ashley Hewett entered to earn the win, and improve her record in the circle to 5-5.

Offensively, lead-off batter, Melinda Macias, reached on a single to left field, before Melissa Preish, who leads the team with a .405 batting average, laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Macias to second. Then, clean-up batter, Coryn Schmit, hit her sixth homerun of the season to lead the Flames to an early 2-0 lead.

In the third frame of play, Preish reached on an error by the center fielder, and advanced on the throw. Then, with Preish on second, Schmit and sophomore Jacki Fletcher both hit sacrifice fly balls to score Preish and extend the UIC lead to 3-0.

The Vikings answered in the top of the fourth inning as the team posted three runs to even out the score. Neither team would post any more runs during the regular seven-inning game, which lead to extra innings.

In a back-and-forth battle, Cleveland State grabbed a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth inning, before UIC answered in the bottom of the frame as sophomore Jenna Marsalli scored Fletcher on a sacrifice fly.

In the top of the 10th, the Vikings scored another run, but the Flames outlasted Cleveland State as Heeley knocked a ball to center field to score Hewett and Marsalli to secure the 6-5 victory, and add her fourth and fifth RBI of the season.

The Flames return to action Wednesday as the team travels to Evanston, Ill., to face Northwestern at 4:00 p.m. (CT).