KU Softball Splits Final Day of Cathedral City Classic
Feb. 22, 2009
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. –
One game after upsetting the 10th-ranked Cal Golden Bears, the Kansas softball team (6-8) fell 3-1 to Cal Poly (4-4) to conclude its play in the Cathedral City Classic. KU went 2-4 in the four-day tournament.
Sophomore Brittany Hile scored KU’s lone run with a solo home run, her first of the season and fourth of her career, in the fifth inning which tied the teams at one run a piece.
Cal Poly quickly took the back the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. The Mustangs strung together two singles with a double in between to plate the runs.
KU used a trio of pitchers in the game. Junior Sarah Vertelka earned the start tossing the first two innings. Sophomore Allie Clark then pitched the next three and a third innings to take the loss before freshman Sarah Blair finished the game from the circle.
Sophomore Liz Kocon and senior Stevie Crisosto had the only other hits for Kansas. Crisosto’s single to open up the game extended a team best five-game hitting streak.
Crisosto led KU with a .316 batting average during the tournament going 6-for-19 at the plate in six games. Five Jayhawks recorded an RBI over the weekend led by Clark who finished with two.
Pitcher Val George picked up both of the team’s wins from the circle, including the victory over No. 10 Cal with an eight inning, career-best 12 strikeout performance. She tossed 19.0 innings over three starts, struck out 21 batters and recorded a 2.58 ERA.
The Jayhawks will use the coming week to prepare for the North Texas Invite this weekend, Feb. 28-March 1, in Denton, Texas. KU will take on host North Texas and Harvard in two games each during the tournament.
