Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Illinois-Chicago
Softball Advances To Tournament Semifinals
March 08, 2003 | Cowgirl Softball
March 8, 2003
TAMPA, Fla. - Oklahoma State's softball team won three back-to-back games on Saturday at the Speedline Invitational hosted by South Florida. The Cowgirls defeated Illinois-Chicago 6-2, No. 23 South Florida 5-1 and Northwestern 2-1 to earn a berth in the semifinal game on Sunday.
Illinois-Chicago took an early lead in the first, capitalizing on a pair of Cowgirl errors to push one run across the plate.
Oklahoma State quickly answered in the bottom of the frame when Stephanie Nicholson scored on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Realmuto. The Cowgirls then took the lead for good in the third when Jade Lindly scored on an error from the Lady Flames.
OSU added an insurance run in the fourth on a RBI single from Stephanie Hodges to push the lead to two.
The Cowgirls then put together a string of four hits in the fifth, capped by doubles from Brooke Siebel and Lauren Bay to score the final three runs of the contest.
Sarah Seagraves (5-0) picked up the win against UIC, going five innings before Bay came on in relief.
With the win over UIC, Oklahoma State advanced into bracket play, facing host school South Florida in its first contest. It was a pitcher's duel for five innings until the Cowgirls opened the flood gates in the top of the sixth, scoring five runs on five hits and one error.
Ryan Realmuto started the rally with her second RBI sacrifice of the day, this time sending a hard shot to right field to score Calli Behmer. Megan Carey then cleared the bases with a three-run long ball to bring in Siebel and Bay. Nicholson rounded out the scoring in the game with a RBI single that pushed the lead to four.
Bay earned the start from the circle, giving up one hit and fanning 12 in six innings of work. Seagraves threw the final inning, surrendering one run before striking out the final three batters to end the contest.
In the final game of the day, it took Oklahoma State 10 innings and three hours to defeat Northwestern. For the second consecutive game the Cowgirls found themselves in a pitcher's duel as neither team scored until the eighth inning when the international tie-breaker rule went into effect.
Oklahoma State was first to strike when Siebel scored on a double from Megan Carey, but Northwestern quickly evened the score in the bottom of the frame with a pair of bunts.
The score remained tied at one until the 10th when Behmer singled to left field to bring in Ashleigh Tweed from second for the game-winning run.
Bay (9-3) went the distance for the Cowgirls, giving up one run on three hits and striking out 18 in the winning effort.
Oklahoma State (15-6) faces Purdue in the semifinal contest at 9:30 a.m. (CST) with the winner advancing to the championship game at noon (CST).
Oklahoma State 6, Illinois-Chicago 2 UIC 100 010 0 - 2 6 1 OSU 101 130 X - 6 9 2 McIntyre and Cumbo. Seagraves (5.1), Bay (2.2) and Realmuto. WP: Seagraves. LP: McIntyre. Save: Bay. 2B: UIC-Hernandez, Gallagher. OSU-Bay, Siebel, Carey. Time-1:50.Oklahoma State 5, South Florida 1 OSU 000 005 0 - 5 8 1 USF 000 000 1 - 1 2 1 Bay (6.0), Seagraves (1.0) and Realmuto. Ellis (5.1), Callinan (2.0), Rosenbaum (1.0) and Lewellen. WP: Bay. LP: Ellis. HR: USF-Groves. OSU-Carey. Time- 2:00.
Oklahoma State 2, Northwestern 1 OSU 000 000 010 1 - 2 7 1 NWU 000 000 010 0 - 1 3 1 Bay and Realmuto. Foster and Kira. WP: Bay. LP: Foster. 2B: OSU-Behmer, Lee, Bay and Carey. Time-3:05.
