March 23, 2011

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - A day after hitting three home runs, LMU topped that with a season-high four, including two from junior Sam Fischer and a grand slam by freshman Meghan Harman, for a 14-0, five-inning win against Canisius in the final game of a 10-game homestand on Wednesday at Smith Field. Sophomore Dana Waldusky tossed a one-hitter for the Lions (13-16), who recorded their most runs in almost a year and their largest margin of victory since 1996.

Fischer had her first two-homer game since April 17, 2010, finishing 3-for-4 with a career-high six RBI to regain the team's RBI lead with 23. Her two home runs move her past Megan Ackerman (2006-09) and into second place on LMU's career home run list with 33 while getting within two of entering the school's top-10 for RBI.

While Fischer was hitting her 32nd and 33rd career home runs, Harman hit her first, making it really count as her grand slam highlighted LMU's 10-run fourth inning. Harman finished 2-for-2 with four RBI. In total, eight of LMU's nine starters collected at least one hit and the one who didn't, junior Kelly Sarginson, walked three times.

As part of LMU's 12-hit attack, junior Olivia Alvarez added her third home run in the last five games, going 1-for-2 with a walk and a pair of runs scored. Sophomore Danielle Smith also extended her hitting streak to 11 games with a 2-for-3 effort with two runs scored for her team-leading 12th multi-hit game of the season.

Not to be overlooked was the performance of Waldusky, who carried a no-hitter into the fifth and finished with a one-hitter to improve to 4-5 on the year. Stephanie Pfentner's leadoff bloop single was all that Waldusky would allow as she struck out four, walked one, and hit two.

The first 2 1/2 innings were shaping up to by a pitcher's duel, with the teams matching zeroes until the Lions broke through with a four-run third inning, highlighted by two-run shots from both Fischer and Alvarez. The first five batters in the inning reached as senior Amy Charpentier walked, then was knocked in by Fischer's fifth home run of the season, a moon shot to center. The next batter, Sarginson, also walked and Alvarez followed with her third home run in the last five games, sending an outside pitch over the right-center field fence for a 4-0 lead.

The Lions blew the game open with a 10-run fourth, sending 13 batters to the plate. Smith led off the frame with an infield single and came home two batters later as Fischer laced a double just inside the third base bag. Back-to-back walks to Sarginson, her third of the game, and Alvarez loaded the bases for Harman, who crushed LMU's third grand slam of the season to center to make it 9-1. The hits kept on coming with singles from freshman Samantha Nelson and senior Jennifer Nayudu preceding Smith getting hit by a pitch to once again load the bases. Charpentier knocked in Nelson and Nayudu with a single to right-center and Fischer registered her fifth career two-homer game with an opposite-field, three-run shot that put the Lions ahead 14-0.

The only question remaining would be if Waldusky could finish off her first career no-hitter. She would lose the no-no when the lead-off batter in the fifth, Pfentner, blooped a single to center that dropped just in front of a diving Smith.

LMU scored its most runs since beating Bucknell 14-2 on March 19, 2010 and posted its largest margin of victory since beating Menlo College 15-0 on February 17, 1996.

LMU heads up the road to Westwood for a meeting with defending national champions and eighth-ranked UCLA on Sunday for a 2 p.m.