Battaglia is grand at Bulldog Invitational

Tuesday, March 11

Athens, Ga.

Noon

University of North Florida

East Carolina

Laura Williams started a rally against ECU that Ashley Battaglia finished.

3/11/2008 5:25:18 PM | Softball

UNF downs East Carolina, falls to Georgia

By: Shawn LaFata

East Carolina Box Score

Georgia Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – University of North Florida catcher Ashley Battaglia hit a grand slam home run against East Carolina to open play for the Lady Ospreys Tuesday at the Bulldog Invitational.

Her home run was part of a six-run rally in the sixth against the Pirates that helped UNF (16-10) to a 6-3 victory before the team lost its second game of the day 4-3 to 20^th-ranked Georgia.

“Both of the games were good battles today,” UNF head coach Sonya Wilmoth said. “We showed that we have the ability to produce runs with one swing of the bat throughout our lineup.”

Battaglia and Ashley Parenteau each homered on Tuesday, while Tori Ahern threw a complete game in the opener to earn a win against East Carolina before throwing four innings of scoreless relief in the nightcap.

Laura Williams started the sixth-inning rally against East Carolina, drawing a walk to open the inning. She eventually moved up to third on consecutive one out base hits by Kara Rutenbar and Heather Hyde before Devyn Findley followed them with a seeing-eye single to right field. A Gwen Williams walk with the bases loaded scored Williams one batter before Battaglia cleared the bases with her grand slam. The home run was her third of the season and hugged the foul line the whole way, clearing the left field fence before it had a chance to drift foul.

UNF sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth, collecting five of the team's seven hits in the inning.

Ahern (7-3) settled in after giving up a pair of home runs in the opening inning of play that gave the Pirates a 3-0 advantage. The senior gave up only three hits after the first inning and did not allow a runner past third base.

“Tori knows she is in there to shut the door and give us a chance offensively,” Wilmoth said. “She made a couple of mistakes in the first inning on the home runs. She shut them down after that and gave us a chance to get back in it.”

Parenteau got UNF going against Georgia, leading off the bottom of the first inning with a monster home run to left field.

Georgia showed off its speed in the top of the third inning, taking advantage of a UNF error that led to four runs and gave the Bulldogs a 4-1 advantage.

Parenteau and Kara Rutenbar each singled and scored in the bottom of the third thanks to a throwing error by Georgia second baseman Sojourner Moody, pulling the Lady Ospreys within one run at 4-3. Georgia threatened in the top of the fourth, but Ahern – who came on in relief of starter Joanna Kurycki (1-2) in the top of the fourth – was able to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard, working her way out of a bases loaded jam.

UNF put runners in scoring position in the fourth and seventh innings but couldn't push the tying run across.

Parenteau and Kacie McCloud each had a pair of hits to lead the Lady Ospreys at the plate.

Action at the Bulldog Invitational continues tomorrow against the same two teams UNF played Tuesday. The game time for the East Carolina contest has been moved up to 10 a.m., while UNF will take on Georgia at 2 p.m. Both contests, as well as today's archived broadcasts can be heard at FloridaCast.com.