March 18, 2010

Bucknell Box Score
North Dakota Box Score

Tournament Central

LOS ANGELES - Sophomore Brittany Pereda's eighth-inning walk-off single lifted LMU its fourth straight win and capped an exciting first day of action at the Crowne Plaza LAX Showcase Thursday at Smith Field. Pereda's single gave the Lions a 5-4 win over North Dakota and came on the heels of sophomore Sam Fischer's second career multi-homer game in a 10-1 victory over Bucknell. Earlier in the day, Utah Valley defeated Bucknell 7-6 in eight innings and North Dakota beat Utah Valley 7-3.

For a long time, it looked like it would be a case of the pupil defeating the teacher as North Dakota head coach Sami Strinz had her Fighting Sioux leading her former team and coach, 4-1 before the Lions rallied for the victory. The Lions (7-11) had gone ahead in the second on sophomore Jennifer Nayudu's RBI double but the Fighting Sioux took advantage of several LMU miscues to storm in front. In the third, a catcher's intereference call put a runner on for Kristi Alcorn, who delivered a two-out, two-run homer that put UND (4-18) on top. The following inning, North Dakota loaded the bases with no outs on a single, hit batter, and infield error. With one out, LMU looked like it got an out when Maggie O'Neal was thrown out at the plate but LMU was again called for interference, allowing a run to come home. Toni Schutte then gave UND a 4-1 lead with a run-scoring singe.

Slowly, LMU began to crawl back. Singles by Nayudu and junior Priscilla Satete and a walk to senior Christine Foley loaded the based in the fourth with one out. UND forced a runner at home for the second out of the frame and looked like it might get out of the inning but junior Amy Charpentier singled up the middle to bring two home and cut the deficit to 4-3. But another mental mistake looked to doom LMU when Fischer hit a high pop-up in the infield that was dropped but Fischer was not running on the play and was thrown out at first, costing LMU two runs. An inning later, Casie Hanson robbed Pereda of an extra-base hit with a spectacular diving catch head-first into the centerfield wall and it looked like it wasn't going to be LMU's day.

Yet, the Lions kept at it and pulled level in the sixth on Nayudu's third hit of the day. Foley had led off the frame with a single and was replaced by senior J.J. Hartung, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored as Nayudu stung a seeing-eye single through the right side.

Neither team did much in the seventh, sending the game into extra innings. UND had first crack with a runer on second for the international tiebreaker. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third but senior Melissa Dykema (5-6) struck out Amber Roth and got Cami Bennett to fly out to end the inning.

LMU would make short work of things in the home half of the eighth. With the runner placed on second, Pereda twice squared around to bunt, only to take a pair of balls. On the third pitch and with the Fighting Sioux infield drawn in in anticipation of another bunt, Pereda swung away and lifted a single over the second baseman to bring home the game-winning run from second.

Dykema won her third straight start, allowing all four unearned runs on six hits while striking out a season-high eight. Nayudu was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI for her first career three-hit game. Charpentier also drove in two runs while going 2-for-4 while Pereda added two hits in four at-bats.

A few hours earlier against Bucknell (3-3), the Lions broke out the bats with a season-high 14 hits, helped by Fischer's 3-for-5 day with a pair of home runs, four runs batted in, and three runs scored. Fischer got things going in the first with a towering two-run home run and her second of the day, another two-run shot in the fifth, increased the Lion advantage to 6-1. Fischer was inches from adding to her totals in LMU's four-run seventh. She doubled off the top of the wall in right to lead off the frame before fouling out with the bases loaded to end the inning after LMU had batted around.

Charpentier, Satete, and freshman Danielle Smith each had two hits to help Fischer in the attack. Pagnini launched her team-leading fourth home run of the season on a solo shot in the third and nine different Lions had at least one hit in support of freshman Molly Medeiros' first career win. Medeiros (1-4) allowed one run on four hits while striking out six.

The day started with Utah Valley winning a wild 7-6 decision in eight innings over Bucknell in a game that featured six lead changes. Amanda Perez was 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI but it was a Bucknell wild pitch that brought home the winning run as UVU scored twice in the bottom of the eighth. In the following game, Kristi Alcorn was a double short of the cycle, finishing 4-for-4 with three RBI. Casie Hanson's two-run triple keyed a four-run sixth inning for North Dakota, who blew open a 3-3 tie.

The tournament continues Friday at 8 a.m. with Utah Valley vs. North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux turn around to take on Bucknell before LMU completes the day with a rematch against Bucknell, followed by Utah Valley.