May 5, 2008
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - The second round of the GSC Championship brought about a familiar matchup to the West Florida softball team, and ended in a tough shutout loss, 5-0. West Florida faced GSC East rival UAH in the winner's bracket on Saturday afternoon. Pitcher Taren Walton got the start against UAH, and suffered the loss, giving up just four hits. Walton struck out five, but put seven runners on base due to walks. West Florida matched Alabama-Huntsville's four hits but was unable to execute to score the runs. Walton led at the plate, going two-for-three with two singles.
West Florida threatened in the first inning when Walton singled through the left side, but would leave her stranded at the end of the inning. Julie Carroll was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the second, but would also be stranded. West Florida's third inning looked promising as Heather Bell walked, but was out at second on a Whitney Gay fielder's choice. With Gay on first, Walton again singled through the left side to put Gay in scoring position. However, both runners would be left on with the score still tied at zero.
Alabama-Huntsville's first hit came in the top of the fifth inning after Marilyn Cooper reached on a walk. Catcher Krystal Johnson took control of the ball game with a homerun over the left field fence to score two. Stephany Aguiliar responded in the bottom of the fifth, leading off with a single and advancing on a Melissa Chastang sacrifice bunt. Aguiliar would advance to third on a groundout, but was left just sixty feet from the plate on a third out pop-up.
UAH would go on to score three more runs in the sixth and seventh, while West Florida squeaked out one more hit from Emily Burge in the sixth. The loss sent UWF to immediately play North Alabama in the elimination round.