Red Flash Capture UMBC Spring Classic Title With Third Straight Win
CATONSVILLE, Md. (Mar. 22, 2008) – Junior Laura Caldwell (Bellefonte, Pa. / Bellefonte) scattered four hits and struck out five to record her second shutout of the season in leading the Saint Francis softball team to a 6-0 victory over UMBC on Saturday to win the UMBC Spring Classic.
The Red Flash scored all six of their runs with two outs in winning their third straight game to win the tournament. SFU improved to 8-16, and won a tournament hosted by UMBC for the second straight year. The Red Flash won the UMBC Dawg Pound Tournament last season, a competition that is held two weeks prior to the Spring Classic. The win also marked the third shutout of the season for the Flash, the most since blanking eight opponents in 2002.
SFU will be back in action when they visit Big Ten power Penn State for a doubleheader on Wednesday night.
After dropping their first two games of the tournament against Niagara and UMBC, the Red Flash dropped into the fourth seed in bracket play. But they defeated top-seeded Niagara in the semifinals and then No. 2 seed UMBC in the championship game to get revenge for both losses. SFU also defeated Northeast Conference foe Mount St. Mary’s in Pool Play.
The offense came through with clutch hitting, paced by senior Nicole Bender (Patton, Pa. / Cambria Heights), and juniors Kelly Slingwine (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine Richland), Nicole Waligora (Johnstown, Pa. / Westmont Hilltop) and Hilary McNelis (Tyrone, Pa. / Tyrone) with two hits each. Waligora hit her first home run of the season and drove in a career-best four runs.
It took awhile before the Saint Francis offense got started, and the Retrievers actually threatened first.
Caldwell worked out of a jam in the bottom of the second after hitting the leadoff hitter with a pitch. Lauren Brummel singled to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Caldwell struck out Julia Culotta to end the threat and keep the game scoreless.
SFU took the momentum into the top of the third inning and gave itself a cushion with three runs, which were all scored after there were two outs. Sophomore Kelly Cortese (Coatesville, Pa. / Bishop Shanahan) and Bender started it with back-to-back singles. Slingwine reached on a fielder’s choice as Cortese was forced out on a grounder at third base. Junior Kara Stroup (Valencia, Pa. / Mars) drew a walk and Waligora opened the scoring with a two-run line drive single to the fence in right-center field. McNelis then scored Stroup with a single to left field to make it 3-0.
Sophomore Ashley Bellmont (Morrisville, Pa. / Notre Dame) stroked a hard liner to third base for a single to get things started in the fourth inning. Sophomore Christina Aulbach (York, Pa. / Dallastown Area) came in to pinch run and eventually scored on an RBI single by Bender to make it 4-0, Red Flash.
Bender worked a lead-off walk in the top of the seventh inning, and came around to score on Waligora’s two-run blast to center field, giving Saint Francis a 6-0 cushion with three outs to go to secure the victory.
The Red Flash hit .308 in the tournament in averaging just over five runs per game. They hit four home runs, slugged .427 and were successful on 16-of-17 stolen base attempts in just five games. Caldwell went 2-1 with a 1.26 ERA in 16.2 innings of work. She struck out 15 batters and held opponents to a .175 batting average.
Bender moved into fifth place on SFU’s all-time hits list (151), and fifth on the school’s all-time RBIs list (74). Slingwine moved into fourth on the program’s all-time stolen bases list with 22. Caldwell recorded her 300th career strikeout and now has 305 during her collegiate career. She is second on the school’s all-time strikeouts list.
An all-tournament team will be announced later this weekend.