April 20, 2008

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Sunday, April 20, 2008) Facing one of the nation's best pitchers statistically, the Redhawks softball team remained patient and discipline in picking up a 2-1 win against Morehead State on Sunday afternoon at the Southeast Softball Complex. The win put the Redhawks over .500 for the first time since March 11 with their 23rd victory of the season.

Down to their final out in the game Whitney Dupuis (Sulphur, LA/Sulphur), who entered with only two hits on the year and a .133 batting average, delivered an opposite-field bloop single that plated a hustling Alex Ramirez (Corona, CA/El Modena) from second base and sent the team rushing the field in jubilation. The win over the second-place Eagles (27-12, 12-7 OVC) gave the Redhawks (23-22, 10-10 OVC) their third Ohio Valley Conference series win of the season.

With the game tied at 1-1, Ramirez led the seventh inning off with her team-high 22nd walk of the season. Katie Otterness (Schaumburg, IL/Hoffman Estates) put down a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt to move Ramirez to second. Carmen Fowler (Lawrenceville, GA/Collins Hill) lined a laser back to Eagles pitcher Alex Gjevre for out number two setting the stage for Dupuis heroics.

Senior ace Elaine Fisher (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell North) did her part in keeping the Redhawks in the game, keeping one of the nation's top-hitting teams at-bay with her second-straight masterful appearance. She allowed one run on six hits in her 22nd complete game of the season. She struckout four and walked one batter to improve to 18-15 on the year.

She carried a perfect game for 3.2 inning before giving up a single to Brandy Bucher. In the fifth she lost her shutout when Kari Quinn singled in Heather Widner for a 1-0 lead.

The Redhawks countered in the sixth inning. Michelle Summers (Glendale, CA/Hoover) led-off the inning with her 46th career double. Jennifer Vasquez (Placentia, CA/El Dorado) moved her to third on her second sacrifice bunt of the game. Megan McDonald (Cape Girardeau, MO/Cape Central) singled to score Summers and knot the game at one runs apiece.

Summers went 1-2 with a walk and her double. Ramirez joined her with a 1-2 day and her crucial seventh inning walk. Ramirez also saved a few runs by throwing out two would-be Eagles base stealers.

Vasquez and Otterness each recorded two sacrifice bunts.

Gjevre, who one hit the Redhawks on Saturday, allowed two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings of work took the loss for the Eagles.

The Redhawks continue OVC play this Wednesday, April 23 when they travel north to face Eastern Illinois for a single game in Charleston at 5:00 p.m. This will be the Redhawks last road contest of the season as the Redhawks will look for the series sweep against the Panthers who fell to the Redhawks in their first match-up in their March 25 doubleheader showdown in Cape Girardeau.