March 9, 2007

Final Stats

ROCK HILL, S.C. - The St. Bonaventure softball team earned a split on the opening day of the Winthrop/adidas Invitation on Friday.

Playing in Pool C, the Bonnies fell to Radford, 3-0, in their first game, but rebounded with a 4-1 win over Akron in the nightcap.

St. Bonaventure (6-6) will closeout pool play tomorrow with a 2 p.m. tilt against Pittsburgh and a 6 p.m. game against Furman.

The top team from each of the four pools will advance to play in the championship flight on Sunday. Everyone else will be seeded and put into a consolation tournament.

Radford 3, St. Bonaventure 0
Freshman Sherri Thompson took the mound in game one and kept the Paladins at bay until a two-run homerun in the seventh made it 3-0. Thompson gave up an unearned run in the first.

Radford senior Bre Felix had the Bonnies guessing at the dish. Felix gave up just three hits and struck out 11 for her second shutout of the season.

Junior Brianna Bricker, sophomore Katie Pazda and freshman Stephanie Narde had the three hits for the Bonnies.

Thompson went the distance and falls to 2-4 on the season with the loss. For the second straight game she didn't allow a walk.

St. Bonaventure 4, Akron 1
The Brown and White got on the board early with one run in the first and two in the second to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

In the first, Pazda came around to score after leadoff single. Senior Caitlin Grattan made it 2-0 with a solo home run and Narde drove home sophomore Ashley Kotz for the third run.

St. Bonaventure added a run to its lead in the fourth. Junior Kirstin Strong led off the inning with a double and came around to score as the Akron right fielder missed played a line drive off the bat of Grattan.

Making her first start of the season on the mound, Bricker was in cruise control until the fifth inning. After an unearned run made it 4-1 as Bricker loaded the bases with just one out. Head coach Mike Threehouse turned to Thompson to get the Bonnies out of the jam and the freshman righty responded. Thompson came in and recorded two-straight outs via the pop out and ground out.

Thompson hurled a scoreless sixth and seventh to preserve the win for Bricker and earned her first career save. Strong and Pazda led the way at the plate as they each went 2-for-3.