Stephen F. Austin
Utah
Perfection
3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 7, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Twenty-four hours after Stephen F. Austin broke out the bats for an 11-2 pasting against Kent State, sophomore Lauren Luetge recorded a perfect game, leading the Ladyjacks to a 2-0 win over the Golden Flashes Saturday at the Texas A&M Aggie Invitational.
The perfecto is the first of Luetge's career and comes three games after her first career no-hitter, a six-inning shutout win at Northwestern State on Feb. 28.
Saturday, Luetge mowed down Kent State in 21 successive at-bats, recording six strikeouts on the way to her fifth career shutout.
At the plate SFA banged out nine hits, the fifth time in as many games for the Ladyjacks to record at least eight base knocks, and got all the run support Luetge needed with a pair of runs in the fourth.
Senior Kim Daley led off the inning with a solo home run to center. It was her sixth bomb of the season, tying her with Briana Bishop for the team lead.
Freshman Jessica Arana and sophomore Ashley Struchtemeyer followed Daley with back-to-back singles. Pinch-runner Candise Juarez moved to third on Struchtemeyer's base hit, leaving runners at the corners with no outs.
After a pop-up on the infield, Michele Huffman, who came in to run for Struchtemeyer, stole second to take away the double play. The next batter, senior Benet Higgs, grounded out to second, scoring Juarez from third.
Though she didn't figure into the scoring inning, freshman Kayla Gutowski continued her hot hitting with a 3-for-3 effort. Arana was 2-for-3, and Monica Hirsch and Bishop each hit safely once.
Luetge improved to 3-6 with the win and lowered her ERA to 2.87 for the season.
In Saturday's second game, SFA pushed across a run in the top of the seventh to record a 3-2 win over Utah.
SFA starter Monika Covington gave up just two hits through the first five innings, but found herself pitching from behind early after Utah's Kara Foster led off the bottom of the first with a home run to center.
The Ladyjacks left seven runners stranded through the first four innings -- including bases-loaded situations in both the second and fourth -- before breaking through with a pair of runs to take the lead in the top of the fifth.
Junior Kendal Harper led off by beating out an infield single. She was able to trot the rest of the way home, as Gutowski followed her with a homer to center field. Later in the inning, Struchtemeyer would connect on a two-out single up the middle, but SFA was unable to do further damage in the fifth.
After giving up the leadoff homer, Covington retired the next 10 Utes in order before Staci Hemingway singled with one out in the fifth. She was promptly gunned down at second by Daley on a steal attempt, and Covington got the next batter to ground out to second.
Utah got a run off two hits in the bottom of the sixth with Hemingway driving home the tying score on a single to right.
But SFA took advantage of some Utah miscues in the top of the seventh to score the decisive run. Harper led off with an infield single and moved to second when Gutowski reached on an error. She would move from second to third on a wild pitch, then score what proved to be the winning run on another errant delivery.
Covington (8-6) retired the Utes in order with two strikeouts in the bottom half. She was charged with two earned runs on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts in her 11th complete game of the season.
SFA's eight hits as a team give the Ladyjacks six straight games with that number. Harper went 2-for-3 with two runs scored to lead the way.
SFA (11-13) will play two games Sunday on the tournament's final day. The Ladyjacks will play Louisiana Tech in a 12:15 game, then take on host Texas A&M at 4:45.
-- SFA --
