Feb. 16, 2008
IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa softball team used two solid pitching performances along with clutch hitting by junior Colleen McGlaughlin to collect two close wins at the Metrodome Classic Saturday night. Iowa defeated both Northern Iowa and Tennessee Tech, 1-0, with the game against Tech going extra innings.
McGlaughlin collected the game-winning hit in both games while junior Brittany Weil and sophomore Amanda Zust held Iowa’s opponents scoreless in 15 innings of play.
“I thought our pitching and defense was outstanding tonight,” Head Coach Gayle Blevins said. “It’s early in the season and our offense will come around. We played solid in the field tonight and gave our pitchers great support.”
Game two was a thriller against Tennessee Tech. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the eighth inning when the international tiebreaker rule was applied, which places a runner on second base to start each inning. Junior Callie Adreon started on second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Lindsey Digmann. Later in the inning, McGlaughlin roped a single through the left side of the infield to score Adreon for the one-run victory.
Weil threw all eight innings and allowed only one hit while striking out nine batters. Weil sat down the first 12 batters in a row before giving up Tech’s only hit in the fifth inning. She struck out at least one batter in six of the eight innings, including two in the first and three in the third.
“The defense played great tonight,” Weil said. “They made plays that gave us a chance to win. It’s great for our team to get two close wins like that early in the season.”
McGlaughlin collected two hits and the game’s only RBI to lead the Hawkeyes.
In game one against Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes scored the game’s lone run in the fifth inning. Digmann started the inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Chelsey Carmody. Digmann then moved to third on an infield single by sophomore Taylor Leichsenring and scored on a deep sacrifice fly to left field by McGlaughlin.
“It was nice to come away with two wins tonight,” McGlaughlin said. “Our pitchers threw great games and our defense was solid all night. We know if we play defense like that, we will win a lot of ball games.”
In her 2008 debut, Zust tossed a three-hit shutout. She struck out eight batters with only two walks. Zust retired the first nine batters of the game in a row and had at least one strikeout in six of the seven innings.
“It was great to finally get out and throw in a game,” Zust said. “It was a close game and we’re glad to come out on the winning end of things. Now we need to refocus and concentrate on leaving this tournament undefeated.”
Leichsenring finished 3-4 with two stolen bases while Digmann went a perfect 2-2 with a stolen base and the lone run scored.
Iowa will conclude action in the Metrodome Classic Sunday when they face Arkansas at 9 a.m. and Drake at 1 p.m.
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