North Dakota State Rallies Back In Seventh Inning To Top Jayhawks, 5-4
March 6, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Kansas Softball was narrowly defeated by the North Dakota State Bison, 5-4, at Arrocha Ballpark on Friday afternoon in the first game of the KU Invitational.
With the loss, KU fell to 7-12 while NDSU improved to 9-4 overall.
The Bison came out strong and quickly grabbed the lead by way of a first inning solo homerun by first baseman Melissa Chmielewski.
KU starting pitcher Val George, after giving up two hits in the first inning, retired the next 15 straight North Dakota State batters until the Bison stormed back in the top of the seventh with four hits.
Kansas took the lead with a four-run sixth inning with six Jayhawks reaching base. Dougie McCaulley singled to load the bases followed by an RBI single from Val Chapple. With the bases still loaded, Elle Potorf was hit by a pitch to plate Stevie Crisosto and Liz Kocon drove in the final run via sacrifice fly.
North Dakota State came thundering back in the top of the seventh inning retaking the lead with a menagerie of base runners scoring four runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batsman.
Chapple led the Jayhawks with a pair of hits. KU’s third baseman also recorded a double in the contest to move into sixth on the KU career doubles list with 31 along with Shelly Musser (1999-02).
The Jayhawks will take on the Northern Iowa Panthers at Arrocha Ballpark Saturday, March 7 at 10:00 am followed by a game against Eastern Illinois at noon.
