2008 Woodie Awards
Softball swept by Vulcans, snaps win streak
By Jared Ursta
Rocket Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Sports
The Rock softball team lost both games of a doubleheader to California (Pa.) 3-2 in the first game and 7-5 in the second game on Monday in its only games of the week.
With the two losses, the Rock moved to 1-5 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play and now has an overall record of 14-14.
Even though the Rock is four games below .500 in the conference, coach Vashion Johnson has a positive outlook on the team's chances to make the playoffs.
"On the road we need to split, and at home we need to sweep," Johnson said. "We are definitely better at home (5-1); our stats represent that as they are probably triple of that on the road. On the road we just need to play mistake free. We are only two games out of the playoffs and we have a lot of head-to-head match-ups with teams ahead of us."
Johnson said there is one thing that the team could have done better to have a chance to win both games.
"We needed to finish them off," Johnson said. "We need to learn how to finish games. We jumped out into a lead and then we let them back in the game. In the second game we came storming back and had bases loaded, but could not get the runs in we needed to win. The talent is there but we need to mentally focus."
In the first game, junior Stacey Rhodes hit a solo home run to put the Rock up 1-0 in the first inning. The Vulcans tied the game up in the bottom of the fourth inning with an RBI single by Heather Bihler.
The game stayed tied until the top of the seventh when on an RBI single by freshman Sheree Horvath put the Rock up 2-1.
Despite the lead into the seventh inning, the bottom half of the inning is where the first game slipped away from the Rock.
With two on in the bottom of the seventh, Vulcan player Brianna Smith scored two runs on a single to win the first game for Cal.
Senior Courtney Conron pitched 6.2 innings and gave up three runs, walked four, had three errors and struck out six, and was credited with the loss.
With the two losses, the Rock moved to 1-5 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play and now has an overall record of 14-14.
Even though the Rock is four games below .500 in the conference, coach Vashion Johnson has a positive outlook on the team's chances to make the playoffs.
"On the road we need to split, and at home we need to sweep," Johnson said. "We are definitely better at home (5-1); our stats represent that as they are probably triple of that on the road. On the road we just need to play mistake free. We are only two games out of the playoffs and we have a lot of head-to-head match-ups with teams ahead of us."
Johnson said there is one thing that the team could have done better to have a chance to win both games.
"We needed to finish them off," Johnson said. "We need to learn how to finish games. We jumped out into a lead and then we let them back in the game. In the second game we came storming back and had bases loaded, but could not get the runs in we needed to win. The talent is there but we need to mentally focus."
In the first game, junior Stacey Rhodes hit a solo home run to put the Rock up 1-0 in the first inning. The Vulcans tied the game up in the bottom of the fourth inning with an RBI single by Heather Bihler.
The game stayed tied until the top of the seventh when on an RBI single by freshman Sheree Horvath put the Rock up 2-1.
Despite the lead into the seventh inning, the bottom half of the inning is where the first game slipped away from the Rock.
With two on in the bottom of the seventh, Vulcan player Brianna Smith scored two runs on a single to win the first game for Cal.
Senior Courtney Conron pitched 6.2 innings and gave up three runs, walked four, had three errors and struck out six, and was credited with the loss.
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