Saturday, April 18, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Kristin Peck had to wait a long time to get her birthday present from her players.

Abby Keese slammed a three-run homer over the left field fence to give the Lady Bisons a 10-7 in the bottom of the eighth inning against Kennesaw State in the nightcap of an Atlantic Sun doubleheader. The win Saturday evening was the 100th of Peck's career and gave her an extra highlight for her 28th birthday.

“It was a great way to end the game,” said Peck. “Abby’s confidence has really been shooting up in the last couple of weeks. We need that from her.”

In game one the Lady Bisons lost 3-1 to Kennesaw State in eight innings.

“We’ve got to understand that this is a long season,” said Peck. “Kennesaw State came out and played well.

“Defensively, I wasn’t very proud of the way we played. We are typically a strong defensive team. We got a little bit shaken at times. There were a lot of ugly plays.”

The Lady Bisons have needed extra innings to decide three of their last four games. Until this weekend they had not played an extra inning game since beating North Carolina A&T 6-2 March 7.

In game two Keese led with a game-high four hits and five runs batted in, both a season and career high for her. She is tied with Courtney Billington for the team high for RBI in a game Billington drove in five runs at Western Carolina March 24.