Thrilling Seventh Comes Up One Run Short, Troy Defeats Kansas, 8-7
Feb. 11, 2012
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HAMMOND, La.- Senior Marissa Ingle crushed a pitch past the left field fence to cap a five-run scoring rally in the Jayhawks’ final at bat, but the comeback ended one run shy of tying the game as Kansas fell to Troy in the second game of the Southeastern Lion Classic Friday night, 8-7.
Making her first start for Kansas (0-2), freshman centerfielder Cassen Salamone sparked the bottom of the seventh rally with a single down the third base line and junior left fielder Maggie Hull followed her with a walk. With two on and none out, junior shortstop Mariah Montgomery manufactured a run with a groundball to the right side. Redshirt senior Liz Kocon rocketed a single to center, driving in Hull and sophomore second baseman Ashley Newman.
Ingle was next to step to the plate. She turned on a delivery from Troy (2-0) starter Jaycee Affeldt and sailed it over the left field wall, cutting the 8-2 deficit KU faced when the Jayhawks entered their last at bat, to a single run, 8-7. The offensive onslaught came a little too late, however, as a pair of strikeouts ended the rally before Kansas could complete the comeback.
Freshman starter Alicia Pille(0-2) took the loss for Kansas after striking out nine in four innings of work. She gave up six earned runs while walking six in the defeat. At the plate, Ingle and Kocon led the Jayhawk offense with two and three RBIs, respectively. As a team, Kansas struck out just twice in the loss.
KU’s offense got rolling early in the second game of the evening, despite temperatures dipping into the 40s to coincide with the fog that settled in by the 9:38 p.m. start time that continued to come during the nearly three hour game.
Pille struck out the side for a quick top of the first before Hull and Newman led off the bottom half of the inning with consecutive hard hit singles. With two runners on, Kocon cranked out ground rule double to the centerfield fence to put Kansas on the board first, 1-0.
Troy was quick to respond when first baseman Hayden Gann hit a home run to left, knotting the game at one run apiece. Again Kansas matched its opponent when Salamone drew a walk in the bottom of the second. She darted home on a defensive error to lock the score, 2-2.
By the top of the third, the Trojans found a way around three more Pille strikeouts. Right fielder Kacie McAllister kicked off the inning with Troy’s second home run of the game. Later in the inning, a costly wild pitch gave the Trojans room to score twice more and take the 4-2 lead.
Walks began to haunt the Jayhawks in the top of the fifth. The Trojans drew consecutive free passes to lead off the inning and end Pille’s outing. Sophomore Kristin Martineztook over in relief, but surrendered a walk and a two-run single before shutting down the offense with three-straight outs.
Armed with a 6-2 edge, Troy used a pair of walks, a single and an error to plate two more run in the top of the sixth. Kansas’ middle infield – Montgomery and Spencer – turned a double play to keep the Trojans off the board in the top of the seventh to set up the colossal comeback attempt.
SCHEDULE (*Note: Saturday’s games have been pushed back one hour)
Friday, Feb. 10
vs. Tennessee-Martin: L, 4-6
vs. Troy: L, 7-8
Saturday, Feb. 11
vs. Jackson State: 4 p.m. CT
vs. Southeastern Louisiana: 6:30 p.m. CT
Sunday, Feb. 12
vs. Northern Colorado: 10 a.m. CT
