Softball team bats .750 during weekend wins

The team beat Indiana State twice

By Kelly Breckunitch

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Jayhawks had a stellar weekend in their home opener, winning three out of four games in the Jayhawk Classic. They dropped only their last game of the tournament against Western Illinois.

The team opened the tournament with a run-rule victory over Indiana State. The KU offense scored one run in the second inning, five in the third and three in the fourth. Junior catcher Elle Pottorf hit her second home run of the season and moved into a tie with head coach Tracy Bunge for sixth place in all-time career home runs at Kansas. In the third inning, the Jayhawks brought 11 batters to the plate. Sophomore pitcher Sarah Vertelka made her return to the mound and earned the win while senior first basemen Addy Lucero had a career day with five RBI.

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Photo by Weston White

Freshman pitcher Allison Clark fields a ground ball hit by an Indiana State batter. Clark through her out at first base during her two innings of relief Saturday afternoon. Kansas defeated Indiana State 9-1 at Arrocha Ballpark.

The Jayhawks’ second game of the tournament was the opposite of the first. Junior pitcher Valerie George held her end of a pitcher’s duel to earn the victory against the Pittsburgh Panthers. Neither team scored a run until the seventh inning. Freshman second basemen Kolby Fesmire had the first triple of the season for the Jayhawks to drive in the first run of the game. Sophomore first basemen Amanda Jobe had the game-winning home run in the top of the tenth.

In the third game, the Jayhawks beat Indiana State again. Freshman pitcher Allie Clark picked up the win. Junior third baseman Val Chapple had two hits and scored one run and sophomore right fielder Ally Stanton went one for three with one run driven in in the 4-3 KU victory.

In the first inning of Monday’s game, the Jayhawks hit two back-to-back doubles from freshman catcher Brittany Hile and Stanton. Western Illinois came right back with two runs in the bottom of the second against Vertelka. Hile added another double in the fifth inning to drive in her second run of the game. Junior center fielder Dougie McCaulley caught Western Illinois’ pitcher sleeping, which allowed her to advance to second in the seventh. However, the Hawks couldn’t capitalize on it. The final game of the series ended with a 4-3 loss.

Vertelka was coming back from sickness and struggled with her rhythm Monday. “She is a little out of sync, still trying to find her way back into the rotation and she struggled a little bit today,” Bunge said.

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Last four games

3/08: vs. Indiana State W, 9-1 (5)

3/09: vs. Pittsburgh W, 4-3 (10)

vs. Indiana State W, 4-3

3/10: vs. Western Illinois L, 4-3

“The thing I’ve liked about this time is they’ve been very resilient and we’ve had a couple of bad losses somewhere along the line and we’ve really done a good job of bouncing back,” Bunge added.

Over spring break the Jayhawks will host the Kansas Invitational, as well as a double-header with Bradley and a pair of road games that will start the Big 12 season against Oklahoma.

—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina

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