Feb. 12, 2011
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ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Iowa softball team dropped a pair of games on the second day of the Red and Black Showcase at Georgia’s Jack Turner Stadium. East Carolina scored in the bottom of the seventh to run out 1-0 winners in the opener before No. 3/4 Georgia belted out 10 hits in an 8-1 triumph.
“We gave ourself some chances and our pitchers kept us in the ball game, but our defense let us down a little bit today,” said UI head coach Marla Looper. “As soon as we get more than one error on the board, we compound it with two, three or four, which gives the other team a lot more momentum and opportunity to score.”
The opening game of the day was a pitching duel between Iowa’s Chelsea Lyon and the Pirates’ Toni Paisley. Lyon pitched 6.1 innings for the Hawkeyes, scattering six hits, while striking out seven. Paisley allowed a single Iowa hit, and struck out 10 in the complete game shutout.
“I was very proud of Chelsea’s performance today,” said Looper. “She gutted it out by going deep in the count in situations with runners on third and got out of it.”
Lyon pitched her way out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the fourth. In the bottom of the inning, Chelsey Carmody registered Iowa’s lone hit and advanced to third base on a throwing error. Paisley pitched her way out of the mess by striking out Johnnie Dowling and Liz Watkins to end the threat.
East Carolina plated the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out Kristi Oshiro reached via an error before Rebecca Lee singled to put two runners on. After Kayla Massey replaced Lyon in relief, Suzanne Riggs hit a hard single up the middle to plate Oshiro for the walk-off win.
In Iowa’s second game of the day, shaky first inning defense allowed the Bulldogs to storm out to a four run advantage.
The Hawkeyes answered with one run in the second. Senior Jenny Schuelke roped a one-out double into the right centerfield gap before moving to third on a Brianna Luna sacrifice bunt. Freshman Katie Kroeger then tallied the two-out RBI with her slap infield single.
The Bulldogs tacked on a run in the third inning and three in the sixth, which was highlighted by an Alisa Goler two-run home run.
Massey allowed eight runs (five earned) in 5.1 innings pitched. Georgia’s Katie Murphy registered the victory, pitching four innings in relief with seven strikeouts.
The Hawkeyes (1-3) close out the Red & Black Showcase on Sunday, facing Illinois State at 8 a.m. (CT).
| East Carolina 1, Iowa 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | T | H | E |
| Iowa (1-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| East Carolina (2-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Game Decision | ||||||||||
| W: Toni Paisley (ECU) 2-0 | ||||||||||
| L: Chelsea Lyon (UI) 0-2 | ||||||||||
| #3/4 Georgia 8, Iowa 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | T | H | E |
| Iowa (1-3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| #3/4 Georgia (2-0) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | X | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| Game Decision | ||||||||||
| W: Katie Murphy (UGA) 1-0 | ||||||||||
| L: Kayla Massey (UI) 1-1 | ||||||||||