Friday, May 12, 2006

BOCA RATON, Fla. (May 12, 2006) - Top-seeded Stetson tacked on a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings on its way to downing the resurgent ETSU softball team, 5-2, on Friday evening at FAU Softball Stadium.  The Lady Bucs end the 2006 campaign with a 22-36 overall mark, while the Hatters move to 44-15, going into tomorrow's Atlantic Sun championship game.

The Hatters claimed the early lead in the first, when an Andrea Migliori single scored Laura Whalen, putting Stetson up, 1-0.  Whalen was pinch runner for A-Sun Player of the Year Melissa Wiggins, who had doubled to center.

Junior Stephanie Gaynord (Manassas, Va.) single handedly tied the score in the bottom of the inning with a solo homerun, her school-record 11^th of the season and second leadoff blast of the day.  The junior also ends the year on a season-high 11-game hit streak.

Stetson began the fourth with a single from Nicole Forbes, followed by an RBI-triple from Lindsay Wightman. Wightman would score the eventual game winner on an ETSU fielding error, giving the Hatters the 3-1 advantage.

ETSU chipped away at the Hatter lead in its half of the fourth, starting with a one-out single from A-Sun All-Freshmen selection Mary Catherine Vercoe (Signal Mountain, Tenn.).  Pinch runner Tori Gast (Germantown, Tenn.) would later score as Jessica Lonsinger (Dale City, Va.) reached on an error in the Stetson outfield.

The Hatters crossed another pair of runs in the fifth, thanks to a two-run homer from Migliori.  Stetson managed a total of nine hits on the game.

Courtney Jenkins (Knoxville, Tenn.) took the loss, falling to 7-14 in the final appearance of her ETSU career.  Jenkins closes the books on her ETSU career with a 2.96 ERA, third-best in school history, as well as the school record for fewest walks per seven innings (1.3).

A-Sun Freshman of the Year Erica Demers claimed the win for the Hatters, allowing just four hits and one earned run in 7.0 innings in the circle.

Seniors Janine Sprague (Hillsborough, N.C.) and Lonsinger also finished their ETSU tenures on Friday.  Sprague, the Lady Bucs' career hits leader (215), ends her career with a handful of ETSU career marks, including batting average (.324) and runs scored (124).  Lonsinger concludes her impressive Lady Buc term with 192 career starts, along with 115 hits.