March 19, 2008

Stats

Orlando, FL - Freshman hurler Heather Ochoa (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) pitched seven and two-thirds shutout innings over two games and junior designated player Jaclyn Vanore (Palisades Park, NJ/Paramus Catholic) came up with a clutch two-out base hit to bring home the winning run in a tight 5-4 victory over Iona College (3-10) and the Seahawks (4-8) officially took both games of their doubleheader this afternoon-turned-evening at the Rebel Games at the Osceola Complex in Florida. In their first game against the Black Knights of Army (4-16) Wagner shut out the United States Military Academy, 11-0 in five innings.

In the afternoon contest Wagner's bats once again had their way with the opposition as they knocked Army around for 11 hits while Ochoa pitched brilliantly, shutting out the Patriot League foe for the first such blanking of a lineup in her collegiate career, holding them to three hits while walking two and striking out a couple.

Offensively, the game was broken open in the Seahawks' half of the third inning when they would bat around and put up six runs on four hits and two errors. Freshman leftfielder Hailey Corthell (Reno, NV/Reno) initiated the deluge when she lead-off with single up the left side. After senior shortstop Katie Stevens (Reno, NV/Wooster) reached on an error by the first baseman after attempting a sacrifice bunt, junior infielder Andrea Lazzari (Reno, NV/Wooster) drove in Corthell with a sacrifice fly to right field. Stevens would score after the Iona catcher misfired on a throw to third and after freshman first baseman Christina Pinkus (Cohasset, MA/Cohasset) walked senior rightfielder Ami Iwicki (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) drove in another run when she singled to left.

The next three Seahawks in the order would join the act and single to drive in runs and before Corthell - who lead-off the same inning - grounded out to second base the Green & White would take a 7-0 advantage into the home half.

The mercy rule would come into conversation in the top of the fifth when the Seahawks would go for another monster turn at bat.

Pinkus doubled to right-center driving in Vanore after she lead-off with a single to the shortstop for her first ever career RBI at Wagner, making the score 8-0. Then, with the bases loaded Corthell cleared them all drilling a double to left-centerfield driving in the three runs to give Wagner an 11-0 lead, and only needing three more outs on defense in the next half inning to end the game on account of the mercy rule which gives a team a victory after five complete stanzas and at least an eight-run lead.

They would get them, as Ochoa (3-2) secured the shutout by getting the Black Knights' Jill Galloway to strike out swinging to end the game.

As for the second game against Iona, the ending couldn't have been any more the polar opposite of the first.

With the game knotted up in the bottom of the seventh inning, Corthell lead-off with a single through the left side. Stevens attempted to sacrifice her over to second base to put a runner in scoring position but was unable to get it down and popped it up to the Iona third baseman. Senior catcher Victoria Batistelli (Huntington Beach, CA/Huntington Beach) was hit by a pitch in the next at bat which put runners on first and second with one out. Lazzari couldn't move them over in her at bat and popped up to the shortstop which left designated player Vanore - the Seahawks best hitter at the Rebel Games this year thus far with a .565 batting average, a homerun and five RBI - as the Seahawks' last chance to get across a run and win it without extra frames.

Fortunately for them she kept up her blistering trend at the plate here in Florida and came up big with a base hit up the middle that drove in the game-winning run in Hailey Corthell.

Before that it was Iona who made the noise, erasing a three-run Wagner lead in the top of the fifth off Seahawk starting pitcher Danielle Wagoner (Temecula, CA/Temecula Valley) who had given up only one run and three hits before she got in trouble and surrendered two Gael scores (one of them unearned) on a double to right-center.

Ochoa, fresh off her shutout stint in the first game, picked up where she left off as she retired the next two batters she faced by getting the first two strike out swinging and the second to ground to her on the mound. The Seahawks showed that they were warmed up from playing the first game by coming out in the opening inning and putting up two runs on Vanore's first RBI in the game and a Batistelli single to right field that drove in Stevens who got on with a base hit up the middle.

Then, in the following turn at bat the Seahawks got a lead-off homerun from Iwicki - her first of the year - which made it 3-0 in their favor after two.

The Seahawks have a day off Wednesday but are back in action Thursday when they'll take on Akron at 11 a.m. and then Siena at 2 p.m.