McKinney Pitches UW-Eau Claire Past Emory

Hurler Fans Ten, Puts Blugolds into Quarterfinals

May 20, 2007  -  Box Score

SALEM, Va. --- UW-Eau Claire pitcher Mallory McKinney tossed seven strong innings to lead the Blugolds (37-13) to a 3-1victory over Emory University (33-8) in the tenth game of the 2007 NCAA Division III Softball Championship.  UW-Eau Claire moves on to face Plattsburgh State University in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m.  Emory bows out of the tournament with its second loss.

McKinney improved to 19-9 on the season in seven strong innings of work.  She allowed one run on four hits while walking two and striking out ten.  The win marked her second of the tournament.

“Well, I’m kind of worn out,” explained UW-Eau Claire head coach Leslie Huntington.  “I think it was a battle the entire game.  I was frustrated with our lack of execution in several situations, but the bottom line is I guess we just gutted it out and got the victory.”

The Blugolds jumped on the board first with a run in the opening half of the first inning.  McKinney reached via a fielder’s choice to short, and moved up to second on a walk by Michelle Butkus.  Jill Janke reached on an error by the pitcher to load the bases, and Mandy Tschernach followed with the first of her three hits, this one to left field to bring in McKinney.

UW-Eau Claire went up 2-0 in the third inning with Rachel Paulus leading things off with a walk and a steal of second base.  One out later, Butkus drew a free pass to first and Paulus swiped third base to put runners on the corners.  Emory seemed on the verge of getting out of the inning when Janke popped up to short, but Tschernach followed with her second run-scoring single to bring in Paulus.

Emory got one back in the fourth inning.  Ali Braverman homered led off the inning with her third homerun of the tournament to pull the Eagles with one at 2-1.  The homer also marked the third McKinney had given up for the Blugolds, accounting for all three of the runs she had surrendered so far in the tournament.

The Blugolds tacked one more on the sixth.  Tschernach led off with her third hit of the game, a line-drive screamer back to pitcher that glanced off the left cheek of Eagles’ starter Ashley Tobar.  Tobar left the field under her own power and was replaced by Marion Holland.  Holland struck out Amber Haack and Shannon Barone, but sandwiched in between was an error by the first baseman on that allowed Kidnie to reach base and move Tschernach up to second.  Casey Leisgang followed the Barone strike out with a double to bring in Tschernach.

Tobar took the loss for the Eagles, falling to 14-3 on the season.  She worked five-plus innings, giving up three runs, one earned, on six hits.  She walked three and fanned six.

“It was a great season,” mentioned Emory head coach Penny Siqueiros.  “I am very proud of the women for winning out after struggling in the middle of the year. They made a commitment to get here to the [D-III Championship] and I think they set their goals really high. They wanted to go undefeated from conference until the end of the year and they did that up until this point. I’m proud of them for that.”