Clearwater, Fla. (February 22, 2008) – The Saint Leo softball team went one and one during the first day of the Eckerd College Triton tournament in Clearwater, Fla. at the Eddie C. Moore complex on Friday afternoon. The Lions (7-1) defeated Nova Southeastern University (6-6) 3-0 in the first game, but were handed their first loss of the 2008 regular season by the hands of Palm Beach Atlantic University (9-8) by the score of 2-1.
The Lions only picked up six hits in the 3-0 victory over Nova Southeastern but a couple of those six were very timely. One of those hits was from Amanda Patrick (Fr., Tampa, Fla.) as she doubled to deep left center field driving home Heather Stroud (Sr., San Antonio, Fla.), who reached base earlier in the bottom of the third with a single to left field. Patrick would finish the game going 2-for-3 with two doubles. The run proved to be the difference in the game as Ashley Urbanik (Jr., Riverview, Fla.) (5-1) picked up her fifth straight victory to start the season. Urbanik went all seven innings, giving up only four hits, walking four, and striking out nine Sharks. Monique Dominguez (Sr., LaPuente, Calif.) added two insurance runs as she homered to deep center field driving in Shelley Bartlett (Sr., Sarasota, Fla.) with two outs in the top of the seventh to solidify the shutout victory.
Ashley Urbanik would get the nod again in the second game of the day and kept the Lions within striking distance all night. Urbanik went seven full innings against the Sailfish, only surrendering one earned run, three hits and striking out eight. But three Lions’ errors coupled with six walks made it a very difficult task for the Lions to prevail. The Lions would only surrender two runs the entire night to Palm Beach Atlantic but could not come up with the clutch hit to take the lead away from the Sailfish. Both Ashley Urbanik and Heather Stroud drove balls deep to centerfield but were caught along the warning track, as the Sailfish centerfielder appeared to be waiting on the wall for both shots. The Lions would close the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Tatiana Casis sent a gargantuan shot over two sets of fences at the complex. The spark of that home run wasn’t enough though as the Lions failed to get on base the rest of the inning. The Lions got the leadoff person on in the bottom of the seventh but they were unable to execute in the attempt to tie the game up. The Lions would leave eight stranded on the bases throughout the course of the game. Elysha Agen (Fr., Palm Harbor, Fla.) would finish the day against the Sailfish 3-for-4, while seniors Monique Dominguez and April Slate (Sr., Land O’Lakes, Fla.) would finish 2-for-3.
The Lions return to action tomorrow afternoon at the Eddie C. Moore complex in Clearwater, Fla. for day two of the Eckerd College Triton Tournament. The Lions take on #17 Midwestern State University at 3:00 p.m. and then conference rivals University of Tampa at 5:30 p.m.
