Feb. 7, 2003
HONOLULU, Hawaii - The Santa Clara University softball team defeated Louisville 6-5 in 11 innings this evening at the Chevron Paradise Classic, hosted by the University of Hawaii at Rainbow Wahine Stadium. It was Louisville's season opener, but the Broncos' record improves to 3-4 on the season.
It was a day for the seniors, as the upperclassmen took control of the Bronco squad.
"It was a complete effort, but we kept battling through," head coach Marcy Crouch said. "Our seniors really shined today."
The Broncos got on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning when senior Coresta Salas led off with a solo home run to make the score 1-0.
The Cardinals capitalized on three Santa Clara errors to put up a four-spot in the bottom of the fourth inning when Lacy Wood reached on a fielder's choice and moved to third on a double by Lisa Estes. Aja Sherman was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Lisa McMillan reached on a Santa Clara miscue and brought in Wood to tie the game at 1-1. A single by Michelle Vasquez brought in Estes and Sherman to give the Cards a 3-1 lead. McMillan scored on Sara Bausher's base hit to make the score 4-1.
UL added an insurance run in the fifth when Calderon led off with a double and scored on Lisa Estes' double to make it a 5-1 game.
The Broncos responded in the top of the sixth when junior Rachel Sherman singled to reach first, moved to second on freshman Shannon Linerud's hit and scored on Salas' single to make the score 5-2.
Senior Roni Rivera led off the seventh inning with her first-ever home run to pull Santa Clara within two runs. Freshman Jenny Brown singled to reach first and senior Tracie Hall blasted a two-out home run to tie the ballgame at 5-5 and send the game into extra innings. The Broncos broke the tie in the eleventh when Shannon Linerud was placed at second in conjunction with the international tiebreaker rule and crossed the plate on a single by Salas to give Santa Clara the 6-5 win.
Senior Lauren Fissori threw the perfect strike to stop the game winning run to ensure the Bronco win.
Offensively, the Cardinals had 11 hits. Calderon finished the game batting 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Bausher, Estes and Vasquez each had two hits. Reliever Krystle Herold took the loss, allowing one unearned run and one hit in 4.1 innings and striking out three.
Junior Jaime Forman-Lao picked up the win for Santa Clara, giving up two hits in five innings.
Earlier in the day, the Broncos lost to sixth-ranked Washington by a 3-2 score. Santa Clara was led by newcomers Jessica Clee and Jaime Forman-Lau, who hit a home run and a triple, respectively.
Santa Clara remains at the tournament and will play Oklahoma State and host Hawaii on Saturday. Seedings for Sunday's single-elimination round will be determined based on round-robin results.
