March 29, 2008

Box Score

CHICAGO - On a brisk spring afternoon, Loyola University Chicago's (8-12, 3-1 Horizon) offense heated up as it rolled to a sweep of Youngstown State (2-13, 0-2 Horizon) this afternoon at Loyola Softball Park. The Ramblers pounded out 10 hits en route to a 9-1 victory in five innings in game one, then notched a 6-1 win in the nightcap.

In game one, Loyola did most of its damage with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Angie Funston's two-out single scored Lindsay O'Gean to put the Ramblers on the board and the home team's offense would only catch fire from there. Jenna Grim roped a run-scoring single later in the inning and Kat Krause punctuated the four-run first inning with a two-run home run over the left field fence.

Youngstown State tried to get back into the contest and drew a run closer in the top of the second inning when Bethany Hafley homered off the foul pole down the left field line. Loyola would add to its lead an inning later however, when Krause stroked a run-scoring single to left center in the bottom of the third and the Ramblers put the game out of reach in the fourth thanks to an RBI groundout by Nora Schober and a RBI single by Funston.

Loyola closed out the offensive outburst, and the game, in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back, run-scoring doubles by Haley Ambrosch and Katie Duffy.

Four Ramblers - Funston, Grim, Krause and Bridget Lally - had two hits a piece for the Ramblers in game one, while right-hander Amy Solava allowed only one hit and struck out eight en route to her fifth win of the spring.

As the temperature began to drop in game two, both teams struggled at the outset to generate much offense. Loyola finally broke through in the bottom of the third inning to score a pair of runs courtesy of back-to-back suicide squeezes by Schober and Funston and from there, the Ramblers never looked back.

Funston's two-run single in the fifth inning highlighted a three-run frame as Loyola opened up a 5-0 lead that would grow to as much as 6-0 before YSU dented the scoreboard with a lead-off homer in the seventh inning.

Funston finished game two with a pair of hits and four RBI and Krista Crosson surrendered only three hits and struck out seven as Loyola swept a doubleheader for the first time this season.

Loyola and Youngstown State close out their three-game weekend series with a single contest tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m.