UIC slips past Cleveland State, 2-1, behind Clynes' no-hitter, home run

May 13, 2006

UIC 2, Cleveland State 1

Canfield, Ohio - Not much more could have been asked of Sarah Clynes. The freshman tossed a no-hitter and added a game-tying home run in the bottom of the sixth inning on Saturday morning as the top-seeded UIC softball team advanced to the title game of the 2006 Horizon League Tournament with a 2-1 win over #2 Cleveland State in an elimination game at McCune Park.

The Flames (27-32) will now take on tournament host #6 Youngstown State, needing to beat the Penguins twice to claim the title. YSU edged UIC, 3-2, last night.

The Vikings season ends with a record of 38-15.

Clynes pushed the Flames into the title game with her second no-hitter of the season. The rookie struck out four and walked none in seven innings to move to a team-best 16-6 on the year. Clynes has yet to surrender an earned run in three complete-game victories during the league tournament.

Despite Clynes' mastery in the circle, the Flames still found themselves down 1-0 in the first inning after Cleveland State used a UIC error and back-to-back sacrifices to plate an early tally.

The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Clynes led off the frame with a solo home run off Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Grace Luginbuhl. It was her second homer of the tournament and fifth of the season.

Senior Michelle Miller kept the Flames' rally going with a double, forcing the Vikings to go to the bullpen.

Reliever Kortney Spidell looked to have stemmed the tide, getting both senior Joyce Cathey and junior Elizabeth Jacoby to ground out, but senior Nicole Shepard delivered another clutch hit for the Flames with a single to right to score Miller and give her team a 2-1 advantage.

Clynes set down the side in order in the seventh to send UIC to the title game.

Luginbuhl was tagged with the loss and finishes the year at 23-11.

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