Eagles Drop Heartbreaker in UCF Championship Game
3/8/2010 4:03:00 AM | Softball
ORLANDO, Fla. – Georgia Southern (10-7) dropped a heartbreaker in extra innings to the University of Central Florida 4-3 in the championship game of the UCF Tournament.
Georgia Southern carried over the momentum from the night before against Boston College in the first inning. Lowes Senior CLASS Award nominee Nina Iduate (Norcross, Ga.) reached base on an infield single to the shortstop. Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) followed Iduate with a single of her own. With one out in the inning, Sam Russo (Snellville, Ga.) doubled to right center and advanced to third on the throw home as the Golden Knights attempted to throw out Fogle, Iduate also scored on the play to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Jenny Side's (Loganville, Ga.) sacrifice fly to left field brought in Caitlin Hart (McDonough, Ga.), pinch running for Russo. The Eagles would tally three runs on three hits in the top of the first.
The Golden Knights would chip away at the Eagles lead over the middle innings. Central Florida scored one run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to force the game into extra innings. Georgia Southern would advance Iduate to third with one out in the top half of the eighth. However, they would be unable to drive in the go ahead run. The Golden Knights would load the bases before Vanessa Perez's game- winning single to left, which brought in Ashleigh Cole to rally to win their own Tournament.
Georgia Southern returns to action on Wednesday in a doubleheader against Charleston Southern at 2 p.m. in Charleston, SC.
