From Staff Reports
The Montgomery Herald
COLUMBIA, Ky. —
The WVU Tech softball team suffered through a rough weekend trip to Mid-South Conference rival Lindsey Wilson. The Blue Raiders held Tech scoreless all weekend, downing the Golden Bears 4-0 and 11-0 on Friday and 3-0 and 1-0 on Saturday. In the opener, freshman centerfielder Stephanie Sang recorded Tech’s only hit. Senior pitcher Diana Humphreys started in the circle for Tech, stringing together four strong innings and striking out six. Tech managed just three hits in the second outing, with Sang, Kris Taylor and Stephanie Nickell each reaching base once. Sang went a combined 2-for-4 in the Friday doubleheader. With one hit apiece, Sang, Taylor, Ali Holmes, Devin Cottrill and Amy McLaughlin led the Bears at the plate in the first of two games Saturday. Humphreys again manned the circle for Tech, fanning six. The final game of the series was a pitcher’s duel, with neither team managing scoring in seven innings, forcing an eight frame. This time, Humphreys struck out 10 Blue Raiders while allowing just five hits. Chelsae Holley had Tech’s lone hit while recording 10 putouts in the field. Lindsey Wilson’s pitcher, Ramirez, was responsible for the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the eighth. The losses drop the Golden Bears to 0-4 in the MSC and 6-15 overall. The squad dropped a MSC doubleheader at Capital High School Tuesday to Rio Grande (4-0, 2-0). Scores were 12-0 and 8-3. Holmes crushed a leadoff double for Tech, but Rio’s Smith responded by shutting down Tech for the remainder of the six-inning game. In the second game, the RedStorm jumped out to a 3-0 lead, scoring two runs in the second and another in the third. The Bears built some momentum in the bottom of the fourth as Sang drew a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third on a Taylor grounder. Sophomore Brittany Chambers smacked a deep line drive to the fence in rightfield to score Sang, putting Tech on the board, 3-1. Nickell then belted a two-run homer, her first of the season, to tie the game at 3-all. Rio put the game out of reach with five runs in the top of the international tie-breaker. Chambers had two of Tech’s hits. Humphreys pitched all eight innings, striking out 10. * * * Stephanie Sang, of Huntington, has been selected to the 2010 Boombah/Chatham Orthopedic Associates Smash Hit Spring Break All Tournament team. Sang kept the Golden Bears afloat at the plate in Savannah, recording seven hits in 16 at-bats. Four of those hits were home runs, making Sang responsible for seven RBIs in the tournament, while scoring five runs of her own. Currently, Sang is ranked 11th in the NAIA for home runs (6), 42nd in the NAIA in home runs per game (.286) and 48th in the NAIA in total bases (40). She also leads Tech in two categories: batting average (.357) with 20 hits on the year, and RBIs with 14 (.67 per game average).