Feb. 26, 2011

Box Score  

Laura Beth McCreesh tossed her fifth career complete game shutout Saturday against Lafayette.

SPARTANBURG, S.C.— In Day two of the USC Upstate Tournament, La Salle Softball nabbed its first win of the 2011 season by defeating the Lafayette Leopards 5-0.  

“It’s really great to pick up this first win and get it under our belts,” head coach Brianne Brown said. “In all the aspects of the game, our team was on point today.”

Pitching as well as the offense came up in a big way for the Explorers as they were lifted to victory behind senior Laura Beth McCreesh’s fifth career complete game shutout and home runs by DJ Guinn and freshman Jackie McBride. 

The offensive explosion came in the sixth inning for La Salle when freshman Megan Hodgson singled up the middle to force in senior Ali Shepherd to give the Explorers a 2-0 cushion. With two outs and two runners already on base, McBride put La Salle well ahead when she smashed a three-run blast on a full-count, stretching the Explorers lead to a five-run advantage.  

With Saturday's homerun, McBride has gotten her collegiate career off to a vast start as she has hit safely in three consecutive games. McBride and junior Breanna DiTommaso who walked twice in Saturday’s game against the Leopards— are the only Explorers to reach base safely in all three games thus far.

“Jackie [McBride] is not looking like a freshman,” Brown said. “It’s great to see a freshman take on a leadership role so quickly.”

La Salle took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when Guinn led off the inning with a solo home run.  From that point, the slim La Salle advantage was protected by McCreesh, who kept the Leopards hitless in six of the seven innings that she pitched. McCreesh threw 72 pitches to 24 batters, striking out three and walking three. (See bottom for list of career complete game shutouts).

“From the get go she was focused,” Brown said. “You could see it in her presence. After the first couple innings, you could see that she was going to be difficult to face the rest of the way.”

Lafayette didn’t have a base runner until the fourth inning. The Leopards led off the inning by getting its first two hitters on base.

With two aboard and no one out, Lafayette got greedy when juniors Mary Episcopo and Gwen Turner attempted to steal bases, only for La Salle to turn a double-play. Junior catcher Shannon Skomorucha fired to junior Liz Reed at second to get the first out before she threw out Kushner at third base. McCreesh got the Explorers out of the jam by striking out senior Stacey Kushner to retire the inning.

La Salle (1-2) will take on the hosting USC Upstate Spartans at the USC Upstate Tournament Sunday at Noon to conclude the weekend tournament.

Notes:

Laura Beth McCreesh’s Complete Game Shutouts