May 13, 2005

Final Stats

BOCA RATON, FL -- For the first time in nine years, the Atlantic Sun Conference champion will not be Florida Atlantic University. The Owls were defeated twice on Friday at the A-Sun Tournament, eliminating FAU(37-32) from the championship and ending its record run of eight straight titles. In the first game, FAU fell to Troy 4-1 before being defeated by UCF, 3-2, in 9 innings. UCF (44-27-1) will face Troy (47-19) in Saturday's championship at FAU Field.

Against UCF, for the third straight game of the tournament, the Owls took a first inning lead. After a one-out walk by Melissa Moore, Pam Mazzarella reached on an error, advancing Moore to second. Jessica Braggins followed with an RBI-single up the middle to make it 1-0.

FAU made it 2-0 with an unearned run in the fifth before UCF's Lindsay Enders tied the game in the bottom of sixth with a one-out, two-run double.

In the bottom of the ninth, Bryttani Lindheim's two-out single drove in the winning run to give the Golden Knights the victory.

Against Troy, FAU got on the board early when Mazzarella homered in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0. FAU held that lead until the fourth when Tamra Howren hit a two-run homer to give Troy a 2-1 lead. The Trojans added two unearned runs in the fifth to account for the final scoring.

In the other game of the day, UCF defeated Jacksonville 9-5 prior to knocking off the Owls.

Saturday's championship will begin at noon. If Troy wins, it will claim its first A-Sun title. If UCF wins, the two teams will play again with the winner gaining the A-Sun's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. For FAU to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight year, it would have to receive its first-ever at-large bid.