2008 Woodie Awards
Bulldog Bash rains on Samford softball's winning record
Val Kikkert
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Sports
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The Bulldogs lost to Louisville and Troy on Friday and North Florida and Troy again on Saturday, finishing the tournament 0-4 after starting the season 3-2 the previous weekend.
Samford hosted the tournament, which began at 11 a.m. Friday with a face-off between Louisville and North Florida. Sunday’s championship and consolation games were cancelled due to a severe rainstorm in the Birmingham area. Troy was declared the champion after being the only team to go 4-0 for the weekend.
The Bulldogs played their first game on Friday against Louisville, losing 3-0. They left six base runners in scoring position.
“We just left runners stranded all game long and couldn’t get the big hit,” Head Coach Beanie Ketcham said. “We struck out way too many times with runners in scoring position, and you just can’t do that against a team that’s as good as Louisville.”
Junior pitcher Stephanie Royall (0-1) turned in a solid outing in the loss, giving up two earned runs on six hits. She finished with three strikeouts. This was her first appearance of the season after sitting out due to injury in the Bulldogs’ opening weekend.
Offensively, the Bulldogs finished with three hits against Louisville. Senior Emily Deaux and juniors Kylie Harmon and Jessica Owens all singled for Samford, while senior Jeslyn Metcalf drew a pair of walks.
“There are definitely good things we can take from the weekend,” Jessica Owens said.
Owens was the lone Bulldog named to the All-Tournament team. She finished the weekend hitting 6-for-12 at the plate and scoring a pair of runs. She currently leads the team in runs (5) for the season.
“We just need to find the one thing that helps us get the job done,” Owens said.
The Bulldogs played Troy later that afternoon in a rematch from last Tuesday’s match-up, where Troy took the victory 4-3.
In Friday’s game, the Bulldogs jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third inning, tallying a run in each of the first three innings. Freshman Kayla Burris made the start for the Bulldogs against Troy.
Contributing to the scoring effort against the Trojans were Owens and freshmen Aaron Fisher and Amanda Troy.
However, Troy came back at the top of the fourth inning and pulled ahead for the lead in the fifth frame. The Trojans went on to win the game 6-3.
“With Stephanie injured, we need to figure out a pitching combination to get some wins. We were not strong enough defensively this weekend. We had plenty of hits, but we couldn’t keep them off the bases,” Ketcham said.
Saturday did not bring any better results for the Bulldogs. Samford dropped a second pair of losses against North Florida and Troy on day two of the tournament.
North Florida defeated Samford 3-2 in the first game. The contest was tied 2-2 in the seventh inning when North Florida took the lead with the winning run.
Later that afternoon, the Bulldogs fell to Troy for the third time in one week, losing 7-5. The Bulldogs were up 4-2 after two innings of play, but the Trojans pulled in five straight runs to earn the victory.
Offensively, Deaux went 2-for-4 at the plate and drove in a pair of runs, leading the Bulldogs against the Trojans.
“We did not get the outcome we would have liked from this weekend, but there were definitely some bright spots. The good thing is that we are getting better and learning as we go along,” Ketcham said.
Players are also staying optimistic after the weekend’s setbacks.
“Our head’s are still up,” Owens said about her and her teammates.
“We’re excited about our upcoming trip to New Mexico. We’re ready to stop losing.”
The team’s upcoming trip to the desert this weekend is to the Troy Cox Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M.
The Bulldogs will compete against five teams from the southwestern United States beginning this Friday and ending on Sunday.
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