CLEARWATER, Fla. (March 8, 2007) ? The University of South Florida softball team split games in the first day of the adidas Invitational, defeating Wagner, 4-0, and then losing to North Carolina, 2-1, Thursday night at the EC Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.
Kristen Gordon and Bree Spence combined for the shutout win in game one. Gordon (5-1) threw six innings, allowing five hits while recording a career-best nine strikeouts. Spence pitched in the seventh and retired the side one-two-three. Spence (3-2) was credited with the loss in game two, but posted two Ks to record career strikeout 300 in one and one-third innings. Her 300 Ks tie her with Jessi Kowal for sixth place in the career record books.
Five USF players recorded two hits on the day. Alison Savarese led all players with a home run and a three RBI.
In game one, Savarese drove in three of the four runs, setting her personal best. She knocked in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and tallied two more RBI in the sixth with her fourth-career home run.
JoJo Medina tallied the other RBI for the Bulls with a single in the sixth inning.
The best chance for Wagner (1-1) to score was in the third inning. After Gordon led off walking three straight batters, she worked out of trouble and retired the next three on strikeouts.
Game two was a pitching duel between USF's Cristi Ecks and UNC's Amber Johnson. The Bulls managed to get to Johnson in the sixth inning thanks to a Cat Olnick sacrifice fly. In the bottom part of the inning, North Carolina returned the favor and evened the score due to a USF error.
In the top of the seventh, USF (17-8) had runners at the corners with no outs thanks to Tar Heel fielding errors but couldn't bring them home.
North Carolina (17-8) walked off with the win in the seventh inning, 2-1, with two outs. After Breanna Brown reached first base on a fielding error, Jennifer Jacobs doubled to the gap in right center, scoring Brown for the win.
USF will return to action on Friday when it faces Oklahoma State at 4 p.m. and Western Michigan at 6 p.m.
