March 22, 2008
Box Score
Corvallis, OR --- Heather Dixon cranked her fourth home run of the season, and the Bengals scored three earned runs off of Oregon State, but the Beavers scored three runs in the first inning, paving the way for a 9-3 Beaver win in the Oregon Spring Fling.
The Beavers (20-13) got on the board quickly off of Andrea Coburn (0-8), as McKenna Low tripled on the game's third pitch. Cambria Miranga then walked and stole second, and a ground out and a wild pitch made it 2-0. DeAnne Young then smacked a solo home run, and head coach Larry Stocking pulled Coburn for the second straight game with just one out in the first, and Kandis Clesson came into the game and slowed things down.
The Bengals cut it to 3-1 in the top of the third, when Christine Shollenberger, mired in a season long 1-for-20 slump, hit a full count double to right center to lead the inning off. Kaylie Neal pinch ran and advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a ground out by Megan Miller. However, the Beavers scored a pair of runs to answer in the bottom of the third, that was helped in part by an error on a dropped fly ball.
ISU answered again with a run in the fourth when Heather Dixon smacked her fourth home run of the season, and ISU scored in the fifth when Whitney Chaffe doubled, went to third on a Miller single, and then scored on a ground out by Krista Armstrong.
The Beavers answered every ISU run with a two-spot in the bottom of the frame, including two in the fourth inning, an inning that saw Stocking get ejected.
For ISU, Dixon went 2-for-3 and Miller went 2-for-4. Clesson pitched 5.2 innings of relief, allowing 12 hits, and five earned runs. For the Beavers, Stephanie Draper improved to 9-4 overall, allowing just seven hits and striking out six. Catcher Audrey Roderfield went 3-for-3 for the Beavers, and Miranda, Young, and Erin Guzy each had two hits.
The Bengals, who had a late game against Portland State on Saturday, has a double header against Oregon on Sunday, starting at 1:00 pm Mountain Time.
Notes: The Bengals are getting outscored in the first inning 35-6 ... Miller's team leading batting average improved to .357 ... the RBI on the solo home run was Dixon's team-leading 11th.
