April 5, 2005

Box Score

Boiling Springs, N.C. - Revenge is sweet, but winning your 500th game is sweeter.

The Florida Atlantic University softball team (28-26, 8-2 A-Sun) swept conference foe Gardner-Webb on Tuesday, avenging a loss earlier this season to the Bulldogs (15-24-1, 1-8) and giving coach Joan Joyce her 500th and 501st career victories. The 2-1 and 5-3 wins bring the Owls over .500 for the first time this season after starting the year 1-11 and gave them their third consecutive conference sweep.

Sophomore right-handers Meghan Doonan and Ashley Greene picked up the victories for FAU, while offensively, junior shortstop Danielle Arriaga was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a solo home run, junior third baseman Jessica Sachs scored twice and senior first baseman Pam Mazzarella drove in two runs.

Game one saw the Owls score their two runs in the fourth inning. With one out and Arriaga on first after a walk, Jennifer Cavanaugh hit a grounder to short. GWU's Pam Parker attempted to get Arriaga with the force at second but her throw was dropped by second baseman Rachael Riofel. Arriaga sprinter for third on the play and then scored when Riofel's throw to third went awry and into the Bulldog dugout. Cavanaugh advanced to third on the error and scored when next batter Lauren Crandall hit a sacrifice fly to left.

The Bulldogs pulled within one in the bottom of the sixth when Lindsay Cox scored from third on an errant throw to second by FAU catcher Charlotte Baird. But with one out, Christie Barlow grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, leaving the tying run stranded on third.

In game two, the Owls took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Mazzarella drove in Sachs from second with a single.

The FAU lead was extended to 3-0 in the third. The Mazzarella-Sachs combination struck again when the junior scored on the senior's double up the middle. Arriaga followed with a single off the third baseman's glove that scored Mazzarella and her solo blast to left-center in the sixth made it a four-run game.

GWU made things interesting with three runs in the bottom of the sixth off Greene but an RBI bloop single by Jessica Braggins gave Greene the breathing room she needed to retire the Bulldogs in the seventh.

NOTES: The Owls will now have nine days off before their next game, an April 15th visit to Florida International for a single contest in Miami.