Long Island Softball Eliminates Colgate at NCAA Regional, 5-1

(Box Score)

5/19/07 -- Sophomore Jenny Giles (Melbourne, Fla.) scattered six hits over seven innings and the Long Island University softball team pounded out 11 hits as the Blackbirds won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2000 as they shut down Colgate, 5-1, on Saturday afternoon in Amherst, Mass.

Junior Vanessa Mejia (Roanoke, Va.) tallied three hits while classmates Jessie DePippo (Westlake Village, Calif.), Celina Castillo (Bay Area,
Calif.) and Brittany Murphy (Los Alamitos, Calif.) all had two hits apiece for the Blackbirds, who will face UMass for the second consecutive day at 5:00 p.m. in an elimination game.

For the second straight day, Long Island opened the scoring and took an early advantage. With one out, a drag bunt by Murphy popped over the first baseman for a hit. Castillo followed with a drive over the right fielder’s head for an RBI double to give Long Island a 1-0 lead.

Three more runs in the bottom of the second gave LIU a four-run cushion. DePippo led off with a base hit to center field. Freshman Mariesha Marker (Keizer, Ore.) moved the runner over with a sacrifice bunt and then a bunt base hit by classmate Chelsea Martinson (Agoura Hills, Calif.) put two runners on. Martinson moved to second on a heads-up base running play and sophomore Renae Beauchman followed with a base on balls to load the bases.

Senior Randi Gillespie (San Jose, Calif.) drove home the game’s second run on a fielder’s choice and Murphy followed with her second hit of the game, a two-run single up the middle to make the score 4-0.

Colgate threatened to cut into the LIU lead in the top of the third.
With runners on the corners and one out, LaPorscha Albert hit a liner to the left side that nicked the glove of the third baseman Mejia. The ball bounced right to the shortstop Castillo, who fired home to cut down the runner at the plate. Giles got out of the inning as she got the next batter to line out to Gillespie at first.

The Blackbirds added to their lead in the third as an opposite-field base hit by DePippo scored Mejia, who had reached on a single up the middle. LIU loaded the bases with two outs but could not push home another run, as Colgate’s Tiana Tyeskey made a diving catch on a drive by Beauchman.

A run in the seventh inning by the Red Raiders broke up Giles’ shutout bid. A fielder’s choice by Meg Mylan scored Colgate’s first run of the game. A one-out fly ball to center field by Kourtney Hannah was caught by Murphy, who fired a strike to home plate for the double play to end the game.

Giles improves to 20-9 on the season and with her six strikeouts on the day moves into second place on the LIU all-time career list. The sophomore also moves into seventh place on the career wins list with 42.