Indiana St. Box Score
Creighton Box Score
The Detroit Titans softball team opened the 2009 season at the Corpus Christi Invitational Friday afternoon on the campus of Texas A&M C.C. After an 8-0 five-inning set back to a tough Creighton team who received votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, UDM mounted a late seventh inning rally but was nipped 6-5 by Indiana State.
Down 6-3 with one out in the top of the seventh, senior and Texas native Jacqueline Nortman (Groves, TX/Msgr. Kelly Catholic) singled to center field and was brought home off a triple by junior Erica Houthoofd (Unionville, MI/Unionville Sebawaing Area) who was able to score following an error, cutting Indiana State's (2-0) lead to one, 6-5. Sophomore Ellen Sinclair (Chatham, ON/Chatham-Kent) then represented the tying run by lacing a double to right center field. However, junior Courtney Gill (Surrey, B.C./Earl Marriott) connected but flied out to left field, not deep enough to move Sinclair. ISU pitcher Darcy Wood was able preserve the win getting junior Kristin Sclater (Taylor, MI/Kennedy) to strikeout ending the game.
Detroit (0-2) recorded 11 total hits led by Nortman and Sinclair, who each went 3-for-4 with three total runs scored. Gill and Sclater also went 2-for-4 with a combined three RBI while Houthoofd drove in a run and crossed the plate twice. Defensively, the Titans were solid but did commit one costly error which led to an ISU run.
Freshman Kara Spinelli (Newman, CA/Orestrimba) picked up the loss in her first collegiate start, going six innings with four strikeouts and five earned runs.
ISU was paced by Audrey Childress, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while Leslie Fakes also went 2-for-4 with two runs.
In game one against Creighton, Gill led Detroi,t going 1-for-2 at the plate, while junior Jill Perry (Ortonville, MI/Brandon) picked up the loss, going four innings with one strikeout.
Creighton (1-1) had four players with multiple hits led by Sara Loeffelhotz, who went 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, while pitcher Kylie Hovinga got the win, going five innings with four strikeouts.
After a scoreless first inning, Creighton got on the board first as Renae Sinkler reached on an error followed by a Loeffelholz single. Laura Kratochvil followed with a two-run single giving the Bluejays a 2-0 lead.
Creighton then tacked on five runs on five hits in the top of the fourth. UDM seemed to be in position to get some runs back as Houthoofd reached on an error followed by a Sinclair one-out walk. Gill then laced a single to right field to load the bases but Hovinga got out of the jam as the CU defense turned the following grounder into an inning-ending double play.
The Titans continue tournament play with a match up against North Texas Saturday morning at 10 a.m. EST.
