May 11, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF catcher Lindsay Dean's perfect 3-for-3 performance at the plate helped lead the fourth-seeded Knights past No. 2 seed East Carolina in game seven of the Conference USA Softball Championship presented by Coca-Cola Friday afternoon at the UCF Softball Complex. With the victory, the Knights will face East Carolina in a rematch on Saturday morning to determine who will compete for the tournament crown against either top-seeded Houston or fifth-seeded Marshall.
The Knights struck first in the second inning as they plated a run on a RBI-single to left field by starting pitcher Allison Kime. Breanne Javier started the inning with a line-drive double to left-center field before Hillary Barrow laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her teammate to third base, setting the stage for Kime's RBI.
Dean put the Knights up by two runs in the third inning after she pulverized a delivery from East Carolina starter Keli Harrell over the left-field wall for her first home run of the season and second of her career. Two batters later, Cici Alvarez reached base on a fielding error by Harrell and stole second on the next pitch.
Shortstop Amber Lamb hit an infield single to put runners on the corners with only one out for Javier, who hit a shallow pop just beyond first base. The ECU second baseman ran backwards to make a nice grab, but Alvarez was able to tag up on the play and give the Knights a 3-0 advantage.
East Carolina tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Jessica Johnson single up the middle to score Charina Sumner, who reached earlier on a fielder's choice.
Kime (24-12) pitched her second complete game of the day in the victory, allowing only one earned run on five hits while striking out four. Kime is 3-1 in championship play and has thrown 22 innings in her four appearances.
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