Sophomores Lead NU to Fourth Straight Win

Wichita, Kan. ? A pair of sophomores keyed the Nebraska softball team's fourth straight victory, as Molly Hill tossed a four-hitter in the circle and Kimberly Fuller hit her first career home run to pace the offense in the Huskers' 4-1 win over Western Illinois on Friday.

 

Hill (4-4) settled down after the first two innings, where she surrendered one unearned run on three hits and walked a pair. After the run scored, Hill sat down 13 straight Westerwinds before a seventh-inning single, but she faced the minimum after the second inning. Hill finished the game allowing just one unearned run on four hits while striking out eight. 

 

Hill had her scoreless innings streak snapped at 12.0 innings - just 0.2 innings shy of her career high - but stretched her streak to 17.1 innings without allowing an earned run.

 

Kim King (0-2) took the loss for Western Illinois (3-5), despite not allowing an earned run. In a complete-game effort, King limited Nebraska to just three hits but walked four and a pair of Westerwind errors and Fuller's home run proved to be the difference.

 

Western Illinois struck first in the game, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the top of the second with the help of a pair of Nebraska errors.

 

The Huskers (12-7) answered right back to take a 3-1 lead after two innings of play. After taking seven hits before scoring its first run in Friday's first game against Minnesota, NU converted its first hit against Western Illinois into a three-run inning. A walk and an error put runners at first and second for Fuller, who drilled a 2-1 pitch into a stiff breeze in left and the ball hit the top of the fence and bounced over for her first career home run.

 

NU added an insurance run in the fifth on the strength of a walk and a two-out error that allowed sophomore Darcy Rutherford to score from first.

 

All five runs in the game were unearned, as both teams managed just seven combined hits and each team committed two errors. Two of the Huskers' three hits went for extra bases, as senior Carmen Kier doubled following Fuller's three-run blast.

 

Fuller's first career home run doubled her RBI total from three to six on the season. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Fuller is now tied for the team lead with six RBIs.

 

Nebraska returns to action for day two of the Shocker Invitational on Saturday morning. The Huskers will face Western Illinois at 10 a.m. before facing Minnesota at 12:30 p.m. Free audio, along with live stats, will be available on Huskers.com for both contests.

 

In a change to the original schedule, NU will then wrap up the tournament at 10 a.m. on Sunday against host WichitaState. 

Box Score The Automated ScoreBook Western Illinois vs Nebraska Mar 09, 2007 at Wichita, Kan. (Wilkins Stadium)

Western Illinois 1 (3-5)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Garcia, Jennifer rf...... 3 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 Douglas, Amy 2b.......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Green, Nicole dp......... 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 Sinks, Rachel pr........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Schlotfeldt, Erin c...... 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 0 Valentine, Samantha 1b... 3 0 0 0 0 2 8 1 2 DePolo, Julie 3b......... 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Hession, Lindsey cf...... 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Mason, Britt lf.......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Heagney, Racheal ph..... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Furgala, Lauren ss....... 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 0 Martin, Aubrey ph....... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 King, Kim p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Totals................... 25 1 4 1 2 8 18 9 5

Nebraska 4 (12-7)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Rutherford, Darcy lf..... 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 Mullin, Meghan rf........ 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Porter, Devin ss......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 Carwile, Crystal 1b...... 3 0 0 0 0 1 8 1 1 Pascale, Brittany c...... 2 1 1 0 1 0 8 0 0 Gonzalez, Crystal pr.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Long, Haley cf........... 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Barrett, Whitney dp...... 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Fuller, Kimberly 2b...... 2 1 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 Kier, Carmen 3b.......... 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 Hill, Molly p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 20 4 3 3 4 4 21 7 3

Score by Innings R H E ----------------------------------------- Western Illinois.... 010 000 0 - 1 4 2 Nebraska............ 030 010 X - 4 3 2 -----------------------------------------

E - Douglas 2; Rutherford(1); Carwile(3). LOB - Westerwinds 5; Cornhuskers 3. 2B - Kier(1). HR - Fuller(1). SH - Long(2). SB - DePolo. CS - Mullin(2); Barrett(1).

Western Illinois IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- King, Kim........... 6.0 3 4 0 4 4 20 25 97

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Hill, Molly......... 7.0 4 1 0 2 8 25 27 108

Win - Hill (4-4). Loss - King (0-2). Save - None. Pitches/strikes: King 97/52; Hill 108/70. Umpires - HP: Dan Rogers 1B: Rick Boyer 3B: Bruce Plummer Start: 12:47 pm Time: 1:38 Attendance: Game: NU19