March 23, 2007

Box Score

OWENSBORO, Ky. - Some big plays in the Lewis outfield and timely hitting lifted the Flyers to a 3-2 and 2-1 doubleheader sweep of Kentucky Wesleyan, Friday morning in the Flyers' first conference games of the season.

The Flyers improved to 13-4 (2-0) and increased their win streak to 12 games.

Lewis took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the first game when Kelly Dianis, who was playing in her season debut, hit a sacrifice fly to deep center scoring Carla Musillo, who had tripled to lead off the inning.

The Panthers evened the score in the fourth, scoring on an RBI single by Suzy Gentilli.

Lewis responded with two more runs in the sixth. Kristy Vanek doubled with one out, and Musillo followed with another double to score Christine Juehne, who was running for Vanek.

Dianis brought Musillo home from third with a well-executed squeeze-bunt down the third-base line. Kentucky Wesleyan's third baseman fielded the ball cleanly, but Musillo slid home just ahead of the throw.

The Panthers added one more run in their half of the sixth, but failed to get any closer, thanks in part to a couple of great defensive plays in the Lewis outfield.

Musillo robbed the Panthers' seventh-inning leadoff hitter of a sure hit to the left-center gap with a diving catch, and Christina Willis made a fine running grab of a hard-hit line drive by the next batter.

Courtney Lyons (4-2) picked up the win for Lewis. She scattered six hits while striking out eight in scoring the complete-game victory.

The Panthers struck first in game two, scoring one time in the bottom of third, but it would be all they got.

Julie Wingerter (3-1) came on in relief of starter Jenna Howard in the same inning and only allowed two hits the rest of the way. Wingerter struck out four, pitching five shutout innings. Her scoreless effort was aided by the Lewis outfield which threw out two runners at the plate on consecutive plays in the fifth inning.

With a runner on second, Haleigh Ashworth singled to center. The runner on second rounded third and attempted to score, but Willis fired home and gunned her down at the plate. Ashworth advanced to second on the throw. The next batter singled to right field, and in a closer than play than the previous one, Gartland threw a rocket to catcher Mallory Paine who applied the tag to a sliding Ashworth.

The Flyers tied the game in the fourth when Vanek bunted in Beth Shelus, who had bunted for a single to lead off the inning and advanced to third after stealing second and taking third on a groundout by Paine. Gartland put Lewis on top for good in the fifth when she ripped a double to the wall in right center to score Willis, who had reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning.

The Flyers return to action on Saturday, facing Northern Kentucky for two games beginning at Noon.