May 19, 2007

Amherst, Mass. - In the second game of the day and the first elimination match of the tournament, Long Island took a commanding lead in the first two innings and never looked back, bouncing Colgate from any further postseason competition and winning their first postseason game since 2000, 5-1.

The Blackbirds started their attack off in the bottom of the first as Brittany Murphy, the second batter of the inning, got on base with a drag bunt over the Colgate first baseman Ashley Rowe. She scored one play later on a RBI double by Celina Castillo.

The LIU attack continued in the second inning as their lead off batter Jessie DePippo reached on a single to right center. Mariesha Marker then moved the runner over to second on a sacrifice bunt and Chelsea Martinson reached on a bunt single to second base moving over to second on a heads-up play. Renae Bauchman walked to load the bases and with three on Randi Gillespie drove home the game's second run on a fielder's choice to the short stop. Murphy then followed with her second hit of the game, a two-run single up the middle to give Long Island the 4-0 lead.

Colgate threatened in the third inning as Kortney Hannah lead off with a double. Rowe reached first on an error by Vanessa Mejia, allowing Hannah to move to third, but was thrown out at the plate for the second out of the inning stopping the rally.

In the third Long Island added to their lead when DePippo singled through the right side scoring Mejia, who had reached on a single up the middle. Although the Blackbirds later loaded the bases with two outs, they couldn't push any more runs across the plate.

The game was then quiet offensively until the top of the seventh when Colgate tried to put together a last minute rally and broke up the shutout as Whitney Scott advanced to third on a passed ball and later scored on a fielder's choice. But the Raiders wouldn't get any more runs as a one-out fly ball to center by Hannah was caught by Murphy, who fired to home for the double play to end the game.

Long Island had to make a quick recovery, as they faced Massachusetts immediately following the victory in the second elimination matchup of the day.