May 21, 2005
Lincoln, NE – Junior Stacy May came through in heroic fashion for the Hawkeyes in their elimination-bracket game against Creighton at the NCAA Regional Tournament, blasting a solo home run in the top of the eighth to give Iowa a 2-1 victory.
Iowa jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to the use of bunting. May led off the game with a single and Summer Downs advanced her to second on a sacrifice bunt. Next up was Kylie Murray who also laid down a bunt and moved May to third. Emily Nichols then laid down a squeeze bunt to score May for the first run of the contest.
After striking out the side in the first, Lisa Birocci surrendered a solo home run to Abby Johnson on the first pitch of the second inning and the contest was tied, 1-1.
The game remained scoreless until the top half of the eighth when May took the first pitch and crushed it over the centerfield fence to give Iowa the advantage.
May collected all four of Iowa’s hits, including her 10th home run of the season. May is currently batting .857 (6-7) in the NCAA Regional Tournament.
After allowing a single in the third, Birocci retired the next 17 batters, including 12 strikeouts. She ended the game with a career-tying 17 strikeouts.
The Hawkeyes will face Nebraska at 7:30 p.m. in another elimination-bracket game. The winner will face Washington tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the first game of the regional final.