Posted: Apr 29, 2010
PAINESVILLE, Ohio – After getting no-hit
in the opener of Thursday's (April 29) home doubleheader
against regionally-ranked Ashland, the Lake Erie softball team
battled in game two, but fell to the Eagles, 4-2. Lake Erie dropped
game one, 12-0. The games served as the regular season finales for
both teams.
In the nightcap, sophomore catcher Megan
Foley (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) led off the bottom of
the first inning with a blast to center field that landed about 30
feet beyond the outfield fence to tie the game at 1-1. The homer
was her eighth of the season.
The Eagles (33-11) put up a pair of runs in the
third inning off Storm starter Pam Bykowski (Perry,
Ohio/Perry/Armstrong Atlantic) with a sacrifice fly by
Alyssa Kelley and an RBI double to right by Ashland starting
pitcher Logan Hursey.
Lake Erie (8-34) cut the lead to one, 3-2, in
the fifth after defensive miscue by the Eagles. Jessica
Smith (Columbus, Ohio/Whitehall) drew a one-out walk and
Foley ripped a single down the right-field line. Smith charged for
third, while Foley tried to advance to second on the throw. The
third baseman, though, overthrew back to second base trying to get
Foley and Smith was able to score the unearned run as the ball
trickled into the outfield.
That was all the offense the Storm could muster,
though. After Haley Rathge (Edon, Ohio/Napoleon)
drew a two-out walk, Ashland turned to its ace Emlyn Knerem, who
had just come off the perfect game in the first game. Knerem struck
out all four batters she faced for her fifth save.
Lake Erie pitcher Sam Ronde
(Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) was very good in relief
of Bykowski, allowing just one run on three hits in four innings of
work.
Knerem was lights-out against the Storm lineup
in the opener, striking out 12 of the 15 batters she faced,
including eight in a row at one point. She entered the game ranked
fifth in the country in ERA and second in strikeout
rate.
The Ashland offense pounced on the Storm early,
getting five runs in the first two innings and tacking on a
seven-run fourth to put the game out of reach.
The Storm upped its win total from last season
by three wins in its second season at the Division II level. Lake
Erie will join Ashland and 10 other schools in the Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in the 2011
season.
