Friday, March 10, 2006

ROCK HILL, S.C. (March 10, 2006) -  Freshman Mary Catherine Vercoe (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) picked up her first win of the season on Friday, helping the ETSU softball team to a 1-0 victory over Pittsburgh at the Adidias/Winthrop Invitational.  The Lady Bucs then suffered a heartbreaker at the hands of Ohio, falling 3-2 in nine innings.  Following Friday's split, the Lady Bucs are now 5-15 for the season.

Vercoe (1-6) gave up just four Panther hits on the game, while her teammates were flawless on defense, going errorless for the contest.  Rookie Jessie Hackworth (Clinton, Tenn.) was credited with the game-winning RBI, which came in the bottom of the third.  The ETSU bats recorded four hits in all.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh, the Ohio Bobcats plated a run to send the contest to extra innings.  ETSU answered with a run of its own in the top of the eighth, but Ohio wouldn't go away, adding another score in its half of the inning.  After holding ETSU scoreless in the top of the ninth, the Bobcats claimed the victory, scoring another run in the bottom of the ninth.

ETSU out-hit Ohio 7-4 for the outing, while committing a pair of errors.  Ohio ended the game with just a single miscue.  Courtney Jenkins (Knoxville, Tenn.), now 1-6, was credited with the loss, despite a spectacular showing in the circle.  The senior gave up four hits in 8.2 innings of work, while striking out six and walking just one batter.

The Lady Bucs take on UNC-Greensboro, on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.  The results of the game will determine ETSU's position in bracket play, which is scheduled to begin Saturday afternoon.

Scores by Inning:

ETSU 1, Pittsburgh 0

                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7   R  H  E

Pittsburgh       0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0   4  1

ETSU              0  0  1  0  0  0  0   1   4  0

Ohio 3, ETSU 2 (9 innings)

                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9   R  H  E

ETSU              0  1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0   2   7  2

Ohio                 0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  1   3   4  1