Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2
Overall Stats
DeLand, Fla. - Western Michigan softball opened the 2006 campaign with a 7-2 loss against Samford at the Stetson Tournament. The Broncos bounced back with a 6-5 win over Central Florida in their afternoon match up. Junior Kristi Strange sparked WMU against the Bulldogs, going 4-for-4 with three doubles in the loss. Newcomer Amanda McBride bashed her first home run as a Bronco against in the fifth inning against UCF.
WMU (1-1) took an early lead on Samford when Strange drove in Danielle Daughtry in the top of the first one of her three doubles in game one. Daughtry had reached on a one-out double to reach base. Strange also singled down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of the Broncos until the top of the fifth. Starting pitcher Tricia VanDerSlik (0-1) held the Bulldogs to just a pair of hits through 4.2 innings but ran into trouble in the top of the fifth, giving up two runs on a bunt single and a double to center. Samford opened up in the top of the sixth, plating five more runs on three hits.
Amanda Heckaman closed out the scoring for WMU, driving in Daughtry with a single to center after Daughtry had started off the inning with a base hit of her own. Heckaman finished 2-for-4 against Samford, while Daughtry also recorded a pair of hits and scored two runs.
Central Florida took the field against the Broncos at 1 p.m. and opened with a run in the bottom of the first. Western Michigan's McBride answered with her first collegiate home run in the top of the fifth. She finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
The Knights answered with a pair in their half of the inning but WMU took the lead back with four runs in the top of the sixth. Heckaman drew a one-out walk and was replaced on the base path by Nina Ojala. Albani Shepherd pinch hit and reached on an error. VanDerSlik cleared the bases with a two-RBI double to right center. McBride earned a base on balls and two batters later, fellow freshman Mandi Sayres drove in the first two RBI of her career with a single.
Central Florida plated two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, knotting the score at five. As in game one, Heckaman drove in the final run of the game, plating Daughtry who had opened the top of the seventh with a single. Krysten Shumaker (1-0) closed out the fifth complete game of her career by setting down the Knights in order in the last of the seventh. The sophomore fanned six batters and scattered five runs on six hits in 7.0 innings of work.
WMU continues play at the Stetson Tournament on Saturday, opening with Winthrop at 9 a.m. followed by a match-up against host Stetson at 1 p.m. The game against the Hatters can be heard live on the Internet. Simply go to the WMU softball schedule page and click the speaker icon.
