BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Florida Atlantic University saw its bid for the 2006 Atlantic
Sun Conference Softball Championship pushed aside as Stetson scored five runs
in the bottom of the sixth in an 11-3 win.
Seven different Owls collected hits in the game with junior Jenna Lopez scoring
once and recording one RBI. Freshman Kathryn Stauffer suffered the loss, falling
to 10-14 after surrendering five runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings. Stetson
totaled 13 hits in the game, with three apiece to Melissa Wiggins, Andrea Migliori
and Carolina Rojas.
Wiggins and Migliori each scored twice, while Rojas had four RBIs. Lindsay Wightman
and Teri Lake contributed three RBIs each, while Wightman also scored twice.
Heather Colding (13-7) got the win, going the distance for the Hatters. Florida
Atlantic struck first, with leadoff batter Jessica Sachs opening the game with
an infield single.
The senior, after hustling around an attempted tag at second base, eventually
scored on a single off the bat of classmate Danielle Arriaga. Stetson countered
in the second, as Lake drove a pitch over the leftfield wall.
Amy Peters, pinch running for Nicole Forbes after Forbes opened the inning with
a single, and Wightman, who reached via a walk, also scored on the shot. Junior
Shauna Corso reached on a one-out single in the third for Florida Atlantic and
came home on a Mandie Fishback double, leaving the Owls down 3-2.
Stetson loaded the bases with consecutive one-out singles by Wiggins and Migliori
and a walk to Wightman in the bottom of the inning and then scored two runs
on a Carolina Rojas single.
Rightfielder Amy Bukovich ended another Stetson threat in the fourth, fielding
a fly for the second out and throwing out Shawna Wiggs as she attempted to advance
to third base. Lopez cut the Florida Atlantic deficit to two with a solo home
run, the third of her career, in the top of the fifth.
Migliori and Rojas hooked up again in the fifth for the Hatters, with singles
sandwiched around a strikeout and Wightman walk leading to another run. Stetson
closed the game with its outburst in the sixth.