Box Score Troy, Ala. (May 8, 2013) – The FIU Panthers (27-27, 10-14 SBC) lost in eight innings, 8-7 to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the Sun Belt Tournament's first round at the Troy Softball Complex on Wednesday.
FIU jumped out to an early lead on a solo home run by
Jessy Alfonso in the first inning.
UL responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 advantage.
The Ragin' Cajuns added a fourth run in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by Shellie Landry.
After
Aleima Lopez hit a solo home run to lead off the top of the fourth to bring FIU back to within two runs, UL responded with a three-run shot by Sarah Draheim in the bottom frame to make the score 7-2.
In the top of the fifth, the Panthers exploded for five runs on four base hits to tie the game at 7-7. After loading the bases with one out, Lopez collected two more RBI on a single down the left field line, cutting the deficit to 7-4.
Shelby Graves advanced runners to second and third to load the bases for
Krystal Garcia who grounded out to short to score Alfonso from third, giving FIU its fifth run. The next batter,
Kayla Burri singled to shallow center to plate the game-tying runs to even the score at 7-7.
UL scored the game winning run in the bottom of the eight after a close call at first was ruled in favor of the Ragin' Cajuns on a ground ball to second by Natalie Fernandez. A
wild pitch moved Fernandez to second and she would score two batters later on a Brianna Cherry single through the left side.
Graves, who came in to pitch for starter
Mariah Dawson in the first, took the loss, throwing the final 7 2/3 innings and allowing seven hits on five runs (all earned).
FIU will next play on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. against the loser of the South Alabama-Troy game.
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSoftball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSoftball) for all the latest FIU Softball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
