BOWIE STATE CAPTURES CIAA SOFTBALL
CROWN
Roll 9-4 Over Virginia State To Win First Ever
Championship
(PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA - April 21, 2007) Make it 20 straight victories for Bowie State University but more importantly, the 9-4 victory over Virginia State University, gives the Lady Bulldogs their first CIAA Softball Championship in school history. BSU closes out the regular season and conference championship play with a record of 27-7 and gives the Lady Bulldogs an automatic bid into the NCAA Regionals.
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2007 CIAA Softball Champions |
Virginia State (24-16) scored two unearned runs in the top of the 1st inning but Bowie State answered with four in their half of the inning to take a 4-2 lead. Two of the four runs scored were unearned runs for Virginia State starting pitcher Geneva Washington. Washington shifted positions after facing only two batters at the start of the second inning, handing pitching duties over to Kjirsten Beckstead. However, BSU's Lady Bulldogs continued the barrage of hits and extended that lead to 9-2 after two innings, which seemed to take any home field advantage away.
The VSU Lady Trojans pushed its final runs across in the 5th and 6th inning, getting six of their 10 total hits in those innings. One glaring stat for Virginia State was its six errors. Virginia State's Judy Hatch went 2-for-3 in the game and scored two runs. Kristie Holbert and Kendra Hank also went 2-for-3 for the Lady Trojans.
Senior Christina Rzepecki, junior Erin Gray and sophomores Tiffany Toney and Heather Enders accounted for two Bowie State hits each. Enders picked up her 13th pitching victory of the season and Toney was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Other Bowie State players named to the All-Tournament Team include Gray and junior Ashley Cook.
Bowie State, the seventh ranked team in the most recent NCAA Division II Mid-Atlantic Region Poll, will now await a call to see who they will face and where they will play in the Regional playoffs in two weeks.