The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
St. John's
UAB Softball Splits Day Two of the Tennessee Invitational
3/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Green Bay (PDF) | St. John's Box (PDF)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The UAB softball team closed pool play with a 5-1 victory over Green Bay, but could not complete the comeback and fell to St. John’s, 3-2 in Saturday’s finale of the Tennessee Invitational.
Junior Cara Goodwin pitched six innings of no-hit softball and struck out a career-high 13 batters to lead the Blazers (6-14) to a 5-1 victory over Green Bay (4-9) to claim the third seed of the Tennessee Invitational.
St. John’s jumped to a 2-0 lead early, but the Blazers battled back to tie the game in the sixth inning on freshman Hannah Lee’s first collegiate double. The Red Storm (8-7) regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run to top the Blazers, 3-2.
“Tonight is the first time we have come out and played to our potential,” head coach Marla Townsend said. “We said today was going to be a special day. Yes, there are little things we still need to fix; but all in all, I’m very pleased.”
Senior Ashley Johnson led the Blazers at the plate with a 3-for-5 night with a double, a triple, three RBIs and two runs scored. Senior Caitlin Attfield went 3-for-6 and scored one run.
Goodwin pitched all 13 innings for the Blazers and finished with a 1-1 record and 2.15 ERA on the day. The Cullman, Alabama, native allowed 11 hits, four runs and three walks, while striking out 15 batters.
“Cara had a great day. Our defense was solid,” Townsend added. “We came up with key hits and battled back in the second game to tie it up in the sixth inning. We had the right people on base and up at the plate in the seventh. That’s what it’s about. We came out and played Blazer softball today.”
Green Bay (W, 4-0)
The Blazers capitalized on Tessa Mikkelson’s pitching mistakes to load the bases with two outs via two walks and a hit by pitch. Junior Mary Warren knocked the Blazers’ first hit of the game with a single through the left side to score Attfield and give UAB a 1-0 lead.
Johnson followed with a bases-clearing triple, the first of her career, extending the UAB lead to 4-0.
UAB loaded the bases for the second consecutive inning in the top of the second, but could not push a run across.
Johnson knocked her second extra-base hit of the game with a one-out double in the top of the third. Johnson came around to score on a two-out, RBI-single from junior Danii Fernandez, giving the Blazers a 5-0 lead.
The Blazers loaded the bases for the third time in the fifth inning, but were denied a scoring chance by the Phoenix defense.
Goodwin pitched six innings of no-hit softball until Allie Taylor led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run to left field to cut the Blazer lead to 5-1.
Goodwin allowed just three hits and one earned run over seven innings, including no hits over the first six innings. The junior allowed just two walks and struck out a career-high 13 batters.
Johnson led the Blazers at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two extra-base hits, while picking up three RBIs and scoring one run. Junior Amy Waters went 2-for-2 at the plate with two singles.
St. John’s (L, 3-2)
After a one-out triple to left center field recorded the first hit for the Red Storm, St. John’s scored a run on a double steal to give the Red Storm a 1-0 lead.
The Red Storm beat out a close throw from third baseman Fernandez to lead off the third with an infield single. St. John’s followed with a double down the line to extend its lead to 2-0.
Junior JoJo Fallen led off the top of the sixth with a walk before senior Sara Beth Williamson singled to right field to put runners on the corners. Johnson beat out a bunt single to load the bases for Warren.
Warren hit the sacrifice foul-out to score Fallen to cut the lead 2-1, but the Red Storm threw Williamson out at home for the second out on the play.
Lee knocked her first collegiate double to score Johnson and tie the game up at 2-all.
St. John’s responded in the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run from Savannah Warren to retake the lead to 3-2.
The Blazers brought the winning run to the plate, but could not push across as UAB fell to the Red Storm.
Goodwin tossed all six innings for UAB. The junior allowed three runs off eight hits with only one walk and struck out two batters.
UAB closes the Tennessee Invitational on Sunday against Green Bay at 10 a.m. CT.
For more information on the UAB softball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UABSoftball). For more on all Blazer sports teams, follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
