TAMPA, Fla. (April 7, 2007) ? The University of South Florida softball team dropped its first conference series of the season, losing to BIG EAST rival Louisville, 3-2, 5-4, on Saturday afternoon at the USF Softball Field.
The Bulls record drops to 31-19, 3-3 BIG EAST, while the Cardinals improves to 22-16, 5-1 BIG EAST.
Sophomore Cristi Ecks (8-6) was credited with the game-one loss. She came in relief in the sixth inning and gave up three runs ? only one was earned ? on three hits in two and two-thirds innings. Redshirt junior Courtney Mosch (7-3) gave up five runs on 10 hits for the loss in three and one-third innings in game two.
Sophomore Liz Howell led the team with two RBI off her first-career home run and batted .667 in game two. Britta Giddens lead all players with four hits in two games and was one of four players to drive in a run.
In the first game, USF broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third, scoring a run with two outs. After Giddens singled and went to second on Tara Toscano's sacrifice, she scored off a Kit Dunbar single to shallow center field.
In the top of the seventh, two USF errors proved costly as the Cardinals knotted the score. After a fielding misplay and a hit batter put runners at first and second with an out, the Bulls tallied their second out thanks to a pop up. Almost out of the inning, Brooke McCrain tallied an infield single to send Missy Vascil to third and she scored off a fielding error.
In extras, Louisville scored two runs in the ninth for a 3-1 lead. Another leadoff error came back to score as McCrain drove in two runs with a base hit.
USF tried to rally in the bottom, but fell one run short. Lauren Rodriguez drew a pinch-hit leadoff walk and scored from first off a Giddens double. No one could bring the tying run in as Louisville recorded the final two outs of the game.
Bree Spence started in the circle and pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings with three strikeouts. In the sixth, Spence gave up a double and walked a batter before Ecks came in relief.
In game two, the Cardinals scored runs in the three of the first four innings to take a 5-2 lead over the Bulls.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, USF pulled within one run of the lead thanks to Howell's first-career home run ? a two-run shot.
USF could not get its offense going to close out the final three innings, as Kassie Stanfill (10-5) allowed only two hits during that span.
The Bulls will look to get back on the winning track when they leave the state of Florida for the first time and travel to Pittsburgh and Syracuse next weekend.
