CLEARWATER, Fla. ? A homerun to left field by leadoff hitter Britta Giddens ignited the Bulls past Penn State, 2-0, to walk off undefeated at the USF Under Armour Invitational in the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.
Giddens' run put the Bulls up, 1-0, in the top of the fifth and extended her hitting streak to nine games. The junior shortstop began streak with a double and two singles against Iowa State on March 1.
Following Giddens' homerun, senior outfielder Kit Dunbar knocked a double down left field. Dunbar crossed home plate to put the Bulls up, 2-0, after a Penn State error placed Medina on first.
Junior pitcher Cristi Ecks picked up her second save of the season shutting out Penn State batters. She replaced Courtney Mosch in the fifth inning.
Mosch, who kept the Nittany Lions scoreless through four frames, collected win number 11.
“I was pretty happy with how we executed this week,” head coach Ken Eriksen said.
“Three errors in five games is a good situation to be in and our pitchers, starters and reliefs, are delivering pretty good pitching performances. That's a good combination to have to end up on the right side of the column.”
The Bulls finished the USF Under Armour Invitational undefeated, 5-0, and improved to 14-8 for the season.
Giddens led all USF batters through the weekend with five runs, seven hits, four RBI and a homerun for a .500 average and a .786 slugging percentage.
“Britta is a big-time player,” Eriksen said. “Big-time players do big time things in big time situations. It's not only her, Tara Toscano and Kit Dunbar are all doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
“They're all going to get good pitches because the pitcher does not want to face them and then we have JoJo Medina waiting in the wings to take them in. I'm very pleased with where they're at.”
Mosch, who owns a 0.89 ERA, added four wins to her record through 15.2 innings pitched in Clearwater. Freshman pitcher Capri Catalano picked up a win and a save for the Bulls this weekend.
USF already has four saves this season. The 2008 staff is on the heals of the 2007 pitching staff that broke USF's all-time saves record with 18, seven of which were from Ecks. Ecks became the all-time single-season leader in 2007.
The Bulls will have a day off and then will return home to host the Spring Break Tournament March 11 and 12 at the USF Softball Field.
USF will face Indiana at 4 p.m., and George Mason at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and then will take on Boston University at 4 p.m, and Ball State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
