Softball Drops Third Straight at Speedline Invitational to Princeton, 7-5

(boxscore)

3/18/07 -- Freshmen Raylene Asman (Escondido, Calif.) and Brynn Lewis (Woodinville, Wash.) each hit two-run home runs but the Long Island University softball team fell short for the third straight game in a 7-5 loss to Princeton in its final game at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla. on Sunday morning.

Junior Vanessa Mejia (Roanoke, Va.) added two hits and an RBI for the Blackbirds, who have lost their last three contests by a combined four runs.

The Tigers opened the scoring with three singles in the first, but Long Island quickly matched them in the bottom half. Senior Randi Gillespie (San Jose, Calif.) led off with a single up the middle and junior Brittany Murphy (Los Alamitos, Calif.) laid down a bunt single that advanced Gillespie to third. Mejia followed with a sacrifice fly to left that evened the score.

In the fourth, Princeton scored an unearned run to take the lead then followed with one in the fifth and two more in each of the next two innings. Home runs by Calli Jo Varner and Samantha O’Hara were the key blows in the sixth and the seventh.

Down 5-1 in the sixth, Asman hit the first home run of her career over the left-center field wall that cut the Tigers lead in half. The Blackbirds again halved a 7-3 lead in the final inning on Lewis’ second homer of the year. With two outs, Mejia lined a shot off the first baseman’s glove for a hit to bring the tying run to the plate, but pitcher Kristen Shaus got junior Jessie DePippo (Westlake, Calif.) to ground out to shortstop to seal the victory. Sophomore Jenny Giles (Melbourne, Fla.) suffered the loss, going four innings and allowing one earned run while striking out two.

LIU heads back north for its next contest on Saturday, March 24 against Fairfield in the first round of the Stony Brook Tournament in Stony Brook, N.Y. The game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.