April 30, 2004

Box Score

EAST PEORIA, Ill.- - Come tournament time offense is generally at a premium. The Lewis University softball team emphasized that point as it beat Indianapolis 2-1 in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament.

Lewis (41-10) scored both of its runs in the first inning, but solid defense overcame the fact the team was outhit 5-4.

Elaina Ktistou looped a one-out double down the left field line to start the Flyers' rally in the first. Crystal Bowen followed with a chopping single up the middle that scored Ktistou for the game's first run. Bowen then stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch by Indianapolis' Beth Wendlinger (10-11).

Wendlinger didn't allow a ball out of the infield the rest of the way, as Lewis' only other hits were infield singles by Bowen and Robin Martz. Martz hit a ball in hole to shortstop and beat the throw to the bag to extend the nation's longest hitting streak to 33 straight games. The streak is now tied for the second longest in NCAA Division II history.

Kristen Porzel (10-1) picked up the win working 4 2/3 innings, scattering five hits and allowing one earned run. Indianapolis (14-25) threatened with runners on second and third and two outs in the top of the fifth inning to force a pitching change. Mary Jaszczak relieved Porzel and induced an infield popup that thwarted the Greyhound rally. Jaszczak pitched 2 1/3 innings of no-hit relief to earn her second save of the season.

Indianapolis scored its lone run on an RBI single by Jessica Conant in the fourth inning.

Lewis advances to the GLVC tournament second round where it will play Missouri-St. Louis at 3 p.m. The sixth-seeded Riverwomen upset No. 3 seed SIU Edwardsville 8-2 earlier in the day. If the Flyers win, they will be done for the day; if they lose, they will play an elimination game at 5 p.m.

Other scores from the GLVC Tournament first round: UMSL 8, SIUE 2 Northern Kentucky 6, Quincy 0 Wisconsin-Parkside 2, Southern Indiana 0