Softball Splits With Win Over Quinnipiac and Loss to Indiana

(Quinnipiac boxscore)
(Indiana boxscore)

3/14/07 -- Freshman Blaire Porter (Redmond, Wash.) pitched five and two-thirds hitless innings and senior Randi Gillespie (San Jose, Calif.) extended her hitting streak to five games with a 3-for-4 performance as the Long Island University softball team defeated conference rival Quinnipiac, 3-1, in a non-conference affair at the USF Softball Complex on Wednesday morning.

Porter allowed only two Bobcat hits and tallied a career-high 10 strikeouts as she notched her second complete-game victory in as many days. In the second game of the morning, the Blackbirds lead early but could not hang on as Indiana exploded for four runs in the fifth inning and was victorious, 6-1.

Freshman Raylene Asman (Escondido, Calif.), who was mired in an 0-for-18 lump coming into the contest, singled to lead of the third inning. After two sacrifices advanced her to third, Gillespie ripped a single down the left field line to plate the game’s first run. Asman finished the day with three hits over the two games.

Long Island had numerous opportunities in each of the next three innings but could not score. In the fourth, LIU loaded the bases but could not score and also left a runner on in the fifth. With runners on first and third and one out in the sixth, a failed squeeze attempt led to a play at the plate. Junior Celina Castillo (Bay Area, Calif.) dashed towards home after the catcher had thrown it to third, but the third baseman’s return throw beat her to record the second out of the inning. After a walk and wild pitch, two more runners were left stranded in scoring position as Jamie Iaquinto enduced a ground out to end the inning.

A two-run single by junior Vanessa Mejia (Roanoke, Va.) scored Gillespie and junior Brittany Murphy (Los Alamitos, Calif.) in the top of the seventh to give LIU a 3-0 cushion. Gillespie and Murphy had led of the inning with singles.

Porter pitched brilliantly as she held Quinnipiac to just a lone single through six innings. In the seventh, the righthander got two quick outs before a hit by pitch and walk put runners on first and second. A single up the middle by Jill Viglione broke up Porter’s shutout bid and cut the LIU lead to 3-1. Porter regrouped and finished the game as she got Krista Seeman to bounce out to shortstop.

In the second and final game of the day against Indiana, back-to-back doubles by Gillespie and Mejia put Long Island on top, 1-0, in the top of the third. Gillespie finished the day with five hits at the plate and is now batting .459 on the season.

The Hoosiers would tie the game up with an unearned run in the bottom half and went ahead on a opposite field solo home run by Tory Yamaguchi in the fourth. A four-run fifth highlighted by another opposite field home run by Kim Richards put Indiana ahead to stay. Porter suffered the loss, going four innings and allowing three earned runs while striking out one. Sophomore Jenny Giles (Melbourne, Fla.) relieved Porter and allowed no earned runs in two innings of work.

LIU continues its stay in Tampa on Friday, March 16 as it begins the Speedline Invitational, hosted by the University of South Florida. The Blackbirds will take on Rhode Island at 3:00 p.m. then face UNLV at 5:00 p.m.