Katie Gaal

GoSycamores.Com

May 7, 2009

PEORIA, Ill. ? The Indiana State Sycamores (19-26, 10-15 MVC) were the underdogs in today's first round Missouri Valley Conference tournament game held in Peoria, Ill. However, that didn't stop them from completely dominating the fifth seeded Illinois State Redbirds (22-25, 10-10 MVC) who were held hitless until the final inning. Senior Darcy Wood threw a perfect game through 6 and one-third innings to lead the Sycamores to a 3-0 victory and a berth to the second round today against #4 Drake at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Freshman Shonda Garringer led things off for the Sycamores and took first base her first time up to bat. Garringer hit a short chopper that made it just halfway down the third base line and then beat out the throw to put a runner on base for the No. 8 seeded Sycamores. The next two batters, Stephanie Robinson and Katie Armour, were walked by Illinois State's freshman pitcher Megan Burton. With the bases loaded, Britt Boyer hit a sacrifice fly to right centerfield that allowed Garringer to tag up from third and score for a 1-0 Indiana State lead. That same play, Armour was tagged out at second as she attempted to take the extra base when the Redbirds made the throw to home. Junior Audrey Childress ended the inning by grounding out to the pitcher.

Senior Darcy Wood started in the circle for the Sycamores and retired the very first batter she faced in shortstop Nikki Stansell. Stansell worked the count full and then struck out swinging for out number one. The second out was made when catcher Casey Gorrell grounded out to third basemen Childress who made a great pick up and quick throw to first basemen Boyer. The three up, three down inning was completed when Wood tallied strikeout number two against designated player Amber Smith, Illinois State's all-time home run leader.

At the end of one, it was Indiana State 1, Illinois State 0.

A Sam Markowski pop up began the top of the second inning and brought center fielder Stephanie Jonson up to the plate who flew out to left field. Shortstop Amber Paz was up next and hit a line drive just over the head of the first baseman as it popped off her glove and rolled into the outfield leaving a runner on first for the Sycamores. Kacy Kestner followed behind Paz and hit a chopper that was just out of the reach of third basemen Abby Olson to put runners on first and second. Unfortunately Garringer grounded out unassisted to first basemen Michelle Henderson leaving both runners stranded.

Olson led off the bottom of the second for the Redbirds and hit a blooper just past first base that looked like it could drop but Boyer made a great catch reaching over her shoulder for the first out. Henderson and Katie Mathis were both retired for out two and three on a strikeout and fly-out to left center field.

The score remained 1-0 Indiana State at the end of two innings.

The top of the third for the Sycamores saw Robinson ground out to third base to start the inning. This time it was three up, three down for Indiana State as Armour struck out swinging and Boyer grounded out to the shortstop.

Jessie Buker tried to get the Redbird bats going in the bottom of the third after the #5 seed went 1-2-3 in the first two innings. However, Buker lined out to left fielder Kestner for the first out. Wood continued to be dominant on the mound as she struck out Diciembre Vaca and Beth Current to keep the ?Birds hitless and scoreless.

Sycamores 1, Redbirds 0 at the end of three.

Inning number four began with both Childress and Markowski grounding out to shortstop and Jonson flying out to center field for another 1-2-3 quick inning for the Sycamores. Redbird pitcher Warner settled down quickly after letting off a hit and walking two batters for a Sycamore run in the first inning. She retired seven straight batters since that point.

The top of the order was up for Illinois State in the bottom of the fourth with Stansell at the plate. She battled to a full count but grounded out to third base for the tenth consecutive retired Redbird batter. Strikeout number six came for Wood when she took care of Gorrell with three straight strikes. Smith ended the inning and sent the game into the fifth frame when she flew out to left field.

The score remained in favor of the Sycamores 1-0.

The fifth inning started off with a Paz groundout and then Kestner was called out when she kicked the ball while running to first base. Garringer was also retired when she struck out swinging.

The bottom half of the fifth for Illinois State was yet again a quick one. Olson popped up to Wood for the first out and then Henderson struck out for her second time in the game. Mathis ended the inning by hitting a deep fly ball one step in front of the outfield fence but Jonson caught it easily to move to the sixth inning with the Sycamores still ahead by a single run.

Robinson grounded out to second to begin the sixth inning just before Armour was hit by a pitch to occupy first base. After a wild pitch from Warner allowed Armour to reach second, Alyssa Doyle came into the game to pinch run. Doyle then advanced to third when Childress hit an infield single to second base that Vaca made a nice play for initially but the ball just slipped out of her glove allowing both runners to advance. With runners on the corners and two outs, Markowski popped up to center field to end the inning.

The bottom half of inning number six saw two great defensive plays by Sycamore outfielders Jonson and Kestner. After Jonson made a running play to catch Buker's lead off fly ball to right center field, Kestner found herself against the left field fence when pinch hitter Kaprice Williams was close to tying the game with a home run. Kestner was able to make a great catch at the fence for the second out. Current was Wood's eighth strikeout victim for the third out of the inning with the Sycamores still up by one heading into the final inning.

Trying to extend their lead, Paz singled through the right side, her second of the game after Jonson grounded out to the pitcher. However Paz was put out at second when Kestner singled to second base for the fielder's choice. With two outs, Indiana State head coach Brenda Coldren pinch hit freshman Bailey Wittenauer for Garringer. Wittenauer came through at the perfect time of the year as she hit a two-run home run to right field giving the Sycamores a 3-0 lead. Freshman Lindsey Beisser also came in as a pinch hitter but struck out swinging to end the inning. With three outs remaining for the Redbirds, the Sycamores had a three-run lead with Wood three batters away from a perfect game.

Stansell was the first batter up and battled to a 2-2 count before she grounded out to Childress who made another great throw to Boyer for the first out. Wood's perfect game was ruined by Gorrell when she hit a short blooper to left center field for the first Redbird hit of the ballgame. Carley Billings replaced Gorrell at first as a pinch runner just before Smith tallied Illinois State hit number two when she singled to Wood but the ball ricocheted off her glove and made its way to Robinson at second who couldn't make the throw in time. Smith was replaced on the base path by Jessica Roche. With one out and two runners on, Olson popped up to Wood for out number two. Wood completed the two-hit complete game by striking out Henderson for her ninth K of the game.

The Sycamores emerged victorious 3-0 as Wood flirted with a perfect game until the final inning. Boyer tallied what turned out to be the game-winning RBI for the Sycamores way back in the first inning on a sacrifice fly. Wood did the rest with solid defensive backup in the field as the Sycamores advanced to the second round which will be played today at 5:00 p.m. EST against #4 Drake.

Any fans interested in following along with the Indiana State softball team today in Peoria, Ill., in their quest for an MVC Championship have three different options.

If you want to WATCH the game for FREE, please follow the link below:

http://www.mvc-sports.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=2905&SPSID=36471&DB_OEM_ID=7600&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=7600&DB_LANG=&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=

If you want to LISTEN to the game for FREE, please follow the link below:

http://www.gosycamores.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPSID=65172&SPID=7262&db_oem_id=15200

The link will become available when the game is scheduled to start. Look for the audio icon under the “view/listen speed” column.

If you want to follow along with the LIVE STATS of the game, the link is below:

http://www.bubraves.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?&&DB_OEM_ID=3400