March 11, 2012

Box Score

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Villanova (11-4) scored three runs in the final inning to pull within one run of Bradley (10-9), but the Wildcats were unable to push the tying run across and fell by a score of 8-7 at the USF Under Armour Invitational, which ended their nine-game winning streak. Senior designated player Molly Manning had three of Villanova's ten hits in the finale of the two-week tournament, ten-day tournament where Villanova went 9-1.

Villanova jumped out early as it had in two of the previous four games by scoring in the first inning. Senior center fielder Jamie O'Hara extended her hitting streak to fifteen games with a single to lead-off the inning. She was erased on a fielder's choice by junior right fielder Taylor Olafson, but senior third baseman Kristi Burlin followed that with a single to put two runners on with one out. The Wildcats then used a double steal to extend their great success of base running to start the season and two runners were in scoring position with one out. Junior first baseman Valerie Ortega then hit a ground ball to second base, where the second baseman booted the ball that allowed Olafson and Burlin to score for the early 2-0 Wildcat advantage.

Senior pitcher Caitlyn Delahaba was looking to win her sixth game in a row when she went to the circle and she got off to a quick start by retiring the side in order in the first.

In the second, Villanova got after it with the bats again with the help of some shaky Bradley defense. Sophomore shortstop Ali Lowe reached on an error and advanced to second on a groundout. Then O'Hara hit a groundball to second base and another error by the second baseman allowed O'Hara to reach and Lowe to score for a 3-0 Villanova lead. Burlin then reached on an error with two outs and two runners were on with two outs. That's when Ortega stepped up and delivered an RBI single to score O'Hara and Villanova led 4-0 after just an inning and a half.

Delahaba built off her first inning performance with another 1-2-3 inning as the Wildcats were cruising through two innings.

Bradley finally silenced the Villanova offense in the third despite a one-out single by junior catcher Amanda Marquez and Delahaba did the same to Bradley's offense as she worked around a lead-off single, contributing to two defensive putouts herself in the frame.

O'Hara tallied her second hit of the day to lead off the fourth inning and moved to scoring position after a groundout by Olafson, but a strikeout and pop out accounted for the final outs of the frame as Villanova led 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth, when Bradley's offense would finally break out.

Delahaba struggled early in the fourth inning when she walked the first three hitters to load the bases with no outs, and the next hitter singled to left to cut the lead to 4-1. A walk followed by an RBI groundout brought Bradley closer to 4-3 and there were still two runners in scoring position with one out. Delahaba struck the next hitter out, but with two outs a groundball to freshman second baseman Briana Fujii got away from her and both runners came around to score to give Bradley a 5-4 advantage. Marquez threw the runner out attempting to steal to end the inning.

Neither team tallied any runs in the fifth, despite Manning's second hit of the day and Villanova went down in order in the top of the sixth as Bradley still led by a run going into the bottom of the inning.

Alyson Clemente led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and following a strikeout, a single brought Clemente home for a two-run Bradley lead. The next three hitters all singled which would bring home two runs as the Bradley advantage had swelled to 8-4 after six innings, but Villanova responded in the seventh.

Burlin was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Ortega followed that by reaching on an error to put two runners on based with nobody out. Manning then struck an RBI double to deep left field that easily scored Burlin, but a strong relay from Bradley nailed Ortega at the plate as Villanova now trailed 8-5 with one out and a runner on second. Fujii was the next hitter and she atoned for her error by lacing a triple in the left-center gap to cut the Villanova deficit to 8-6. Following a ground-out, freshman pinch hitter Beth Smetana singled to center to bring Villanova to within one with two outs. Senior left fielder Tessa Braga stepped into the box with a chance to extend the game, but she went down swinging as the Wildcats lost for the first time in ten games by a score of 8-7.

Delahaba (6-3) took the loss despite pitching her school record 61st career complete game. She gave up eight runs, six of which were earned on seven hits while striking out four and walking six.

The 9-game win streak equals the 2010 win streak that went just as many games.

Despite the loss, Villanova went 9-1 at the USF Under Armour Invitational and played very well in the process. They will look to get back in the win column at a tournament at the University of Delaware on Friday at 3 p.m. vs. Norfolk State.

NOTES: Fujii now leads the team with 14 RBIs through just 15 games...Smetana leads the team in average at .471 (8-17) with O'Hara closely behind at .463 followed by Ortega (.422) and Manning (.419)...Delahaba went 5-1 with a 2.20 ERA at the USF Tournament with 28 Ks...Fujii went 12-25 (.480) with 14 RBIs and a grand slam in the last eight games...In Clearwater, Manning was 15-30 (.500) with two doubles, a home run, and 7 RBIs while going 4-0 on the mound with a 0.58 ERA...O'Hara had 17 hits and 7 stolen bases at USF...Ortega hit .448 with three doubles and 8 runs scored in the last ten games...Sophomore pitcher Kaity Sitzman has a 6 inning scoreless streak out of the bullpen.