MIAMI (April 3, 2015) – The FIU softball team (24-17, 7-8 C-USA) walked-off with a series win over the (RV) UAB Blazers on Friday evening, as the Panthers have made it back-to-back league series victories over teams receiving votes in the polls.
RV UAB 10, FIU 2 (5)Senior
Shelby Graves (4-9) pitched four complete innings in the loss, with freshman
Rachel Dwyer and sophomore
Brianna Bartuccio accounting for the other inning of work.
Graves opened the game by forcing UAB's Caitlyn Attfield to fly out to left field before the next two Blazers reached and advanced into scoring position. The righty picked up the second out of the frame with a strikeout. After UAB tagged the Panthers for one run, Graves got FIU out of the inning with another strikeout. FIU looked to put itself in good position in the bottom half, as sophomore
Ashley Leon led off with a walk and sophomore
Stephanie Texeira roped a single down the right field line, which allowed Leon to advance to third. A close call at home plate allowed the Blazers to turn a double play and get out of the inning.
The Blazers were able to do some two-out damage in the third inning, as a bases-clearing double made it a 4-0 ball game. A rough top of the fourth inning for the Panthers allowed UAB to put the game out of reach, as six runs came across to plate to push the game to 10-0.
FIU pushed to extend the game past five innings during its final chance at the plate. Graves led off with a single through the middle and freshman
Ashley Belans followed with a rocket that bounced off UAB's pitcher. Both freshman
Erin Eiland and senior
Rebekah Sanchez looked at four-straight balls, which plated Graves at third. A sacrifice groundout by sophomore
Ashley Leon scored the Panthers' second run, but the Blazers defense shut the door and ended the game.
FIU 4, (RV) UAB 3Junior
Corinne Jenkins (15-7) picked up her 15
th win of the season in a gutsy, complete-game outing, as she held UAB to just five hits and three earned runs.
Jenkins shutdown the Blazers in the top of the first and was given some run support in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs, sophomore
Gabby Spallone worked a walk and came around to score on senior
Krystal Garcia's RBI double to right-center field.
The Blazers tied the game in the top of the third off Hailey Davis' single to right field. With two on base and UAB threatening, junior
Aleima Lopez picked off pinch runner Katelyn Prater at second base for the inning's second out, and Leon traced into shallow right to retire the side.
Following a 1-2-3 top of the fourth for Jenkins, Garcia put FIU back on top in the bottom half with a lead-off home run, her fourth of the season, which put the Glendale, Ariz., native in a tie for 11
th all-time in program history. UAB wasted no time finding the tying run, as two sacrifice hits moved Attfield to third base with two outs. An RBI single drove her home before Jenkins picked up a pop-out to Belans at short.
Garcia helped Jenkins retire the Blazers in order in the sixth with a bang-bang play across the diamond to beat the speedy Heather Pearson by half-a-step at first base. With one on and two away in the bottom of the frame, Lopez tried to help the other half of the battery out with a 12-pitch at-bat, which included 10 foul balls, and only missed a home run because of a leaping catch over the wall by the Blazers' right fielder.
After registering two quick outs in the top of the seventh, UAB scored the go-ahead run off a stolen base by Attfield. Two errors on the play allowed her to score from second base. Graves sent the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the seventh to right field and was pinch ran for by redshirt sophomore
Marisa McGregor. Eiland put herself and McGregor in scoring position off a double to left-center field and with one out, Sanchez' chopper up the middle allowed McGregor to score and tie the game at 3-3. Texeira sent the first pitch she was given over the second baseman's head for the game-winner.
FIU is back in action on Wednesday for a double header at North Florida.
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
