Horizon League Softball Championship Game 12: Wright State 6, Cleveland State 4
May 10, 2008
CHICAGO - Wright State University advanced to the tournament final after it defeated No. 1 seed Cleveland State University 6-4 in game 12 of the Horizon League Championship at Loyola Softball Park. The loss sends the Vikings to the loser's bracket where they will play in game 15 at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The Raiders, who claimed to the 2007 League Championship, will await the winner of the loser's bracket and are scheduled to play at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Sophomore left-hander Sharon Palma picked up the victory for the Raiders as she went 6.2 innings, struck out two, walked three and allowed four earned runs. Cleveland State's Amanda Macenko took the loss and fell to 25-13 on the year. Macenko worked 7.0 innings and allowed three earned runs.
Wright State senior and 2008 Horizon League Player of the Year Jherica Williams paced the Raiders offensively as she went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. For the tournament, Williams leads all individuals with a .667 batting average.
Offensively for the Vikings, sophomore Jessica Burt and junior Natalie DeMatteis each collected a pair of RBIs.
For the second day in a row, Wright State rallied in the seventh inning to pull out a victory. On Thursday, the Raiders tallied four runs to slip past Loyola 4-3. Against the Vikings, the Raiders plated three runs in the top half of the seventh inning.
In three tournament games, Wright State has outscored its opponents 15-8 with 11 of those runs coming in innings five, six and seven.
Wright State entered the top half of the seventh, trailing 4-3 and faced a CSU squad that was 21-0 when leading after six innings, but the Raiders tied the game thanks to a solo homerun to right-center field by freshman Louie Haney. Haney's solo shot was her third of the year.
Four batters later the Raiders were down to their last out as senior Jacqueline Macy pinch hit for senior Bridget Henry. Macy came to the plate with two runners in scoring position. Macy, who entered the League championship with just three hits all season, hit a double down the leftfield line to score a pair of runs.
In the bottom half of the final frame, Cleveland State went down in order as the Raiders secured the victory.
The Vikings opened the scoring in the second inning as they plated a pair of runs. Wright State took the lead in the fifth with three runs. CSU responded in the bottom half of the frame with two runs and reclaimed the lead at 4-3 heading into the seventh.
For complete coverage of the 2008 Horizon League Softball Championship check out the tournament homepage at www.horizonleague.org.
