Feb. 17, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Whitney Willard had three hits and Amanda Macenko scattered four hits as Cleveland State upended Central Michigan, 5-1, on Sunday to win the team title at the UNC-Greensboro Spartan Classic.

CSU won all four games it played in the tourney, handing Central Michigan its only loss during tourney play on Sunday.

"Today was a tremendous defensive effort for the Vikings," head coach Angie Nicholson said. "Everything just came together for us. Amanda (Macenko) pitched well, our bats finally got a little more pop and we came up with some timely hits."

"This was a good weekend for us, but we're no looking at it like we are 4-0. We are just looking at what we learned in these four games and how it will make us a much better team. Our ultimate goal is to win games at the end of the season, not the beginning."

The Vikings wasted no time in the game, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning.

Willard started the inning with a lead-off single. Two outs later, Haley Keller grounded to third, but CMU's Amy Hudson threw the ball down the right field line, allowing the speedy Willard to come all the way around to score with Keller ending up on second. Lia Gordon followed with an RBI double to score Keller.

Willard was instrumental in CSU adding a run in the fourth. With one out, Amanda Houchin doubled off the wall in center. After Jessica Burt walked to put runners on first and second, Willard singled to score Houchin.

Central Michigan manufactured its only run in the fourth when Suzie Giroux led off the inning by being hit by a pitch and with one out, Hudson walked. Christina Novak lined a shot down the right field line that Young was able to making a sliding catch on but she lost the ball when trying to make the transfer to her hand. Giroux tagged on the play and was able to score from second when Young's throw took a bad hop and deflected off the face of Keller.

The Vikings added insurance runs in both the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, Danielle Young singled to score Amy Powell with two outs.

With two outs in the seventh Keller, who remained in the game despite suferring a significant gash to her face on the play at the plate in the fourth, made up for the play by blasting her first homerun of the season down the leftfield line to round out the scoring.

Macenko (3-0) was outstanding again, allowing just four hits in seven innings of work. She struck out two and walked one. The unearned run was the first she allowed in 20 innings this season, giving her a perfect 0.00 ERA.

The Vikings will take a week off from tournament play before resuming their early season schedule at the Eastern Kentucky Invitational from March 1-2.