April 27, 2007

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- In the opening game of the 2007 SCAC Softball Tournament, Millsaps plated the first six runs of the ballgame and survived six fielding errors and four late runs from Rhodes to earn a first round win and advance to the 5 p.m. game with the West’s No. 1 seed and tournament-host Trinity.

Entering Game 1 as the visiting team, Millsaps (12-24) used a pair of back-to-back walks to lead off the first frame and then took advantage of a fielding error, an RBI-double and an RBI-single from freshmen Kasey Thibodeaux and Sam Hill for the early 3-0 lead.

Rhodes (22-14) threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the inning, receiving a leadoff single from Jessika Morris and a double from Cianna Pender to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Brittney McAllister, the freshman from Mobile, Ala., then settled down in the circle, striking out Dana Bartolomei and forcing Rebekah Moore to fly into the inning-ending double play ball to leftfielder Erica Douglas.  Douglas made the catch in foul territory and then fired a shot to the plate to teammate Josie Manley to keep the Lady Lynx off the scoreboard.

The Majors pushed their lead out 6-0 in the second, using a Thibodeaux RBI off a hit-by-pitch and Hill’s two-RBI single to centerfield before Bartolomei’s two-RBI triple and Moore’s RBI-single for Rhodes with two outs in the third cut Millsaps’ lead to 6-3 after three full innings.

McAllister (9-4, 3.47 ERA) tossed the first 4 1/3 innings, scattered five hits and picked up four strikeouts to earn her ninth win of the year while Douglas tossed the final 2 2/3 innings to earn her first save of the year as the two teams traded runs over the final four frames to make the final margin 8-4.

With the win, Millsaps advances to face tournament-host and the West’s No. 1 seed Trinity at 5 p.m. in Game 3 while the Lady Lynx fall to the loser’s bracket and play at noon on Saturday.