March 25, 2009

Story courtesy of Warner Sports Information Office

LAKE WALES, Fla. – Freshman pitcher Rebecca Powell picked up her team leading seventh win of the season as she pitched a complete game two-hit shutout of the #23 Columbia College (Mo.) Cougars 1-0 (8innings) to extend the #16 Warner University Royals’ win streak to 18 games.  Earlier in the day the Royals defeated the Union University (Tenn.) Bulldogs 6-3.  The Royals now stand at 19-3 for the season, while the Cougars and Bulldogs drop to 11-6 and 12-12 respectively. 

It was a true pitching duel between the Royals and Cougars as Powell faced off against All-American Honorable Mention pitcher Valerie Teter.  The two pitchers were near flawless for the first three innings of the game, striking out batter after batter until the top of the fourth inning when Teter broke the hitting silence with a two-out single to left field, however Powell did not seem rattled as she was able to get the following batter out with a ground out.  The Royals responded in the bottom of the inning with a one-out hit from All-Conference senior Staci Fernandez, however Fernandez was left stranded on base as the following batters struck out and flew out to end the inning. The pitchers continued to dominate the bats throughout the game forcing the game into extra innings. 

In the top of the eight and with a runner on second, the Cougars’ Jena Strobel singled through the left side to advance the runner to third base.  Strobel then stole second to put both runners in scoring position.  With the two runners in scoring position, Powell got the last two outs by striking out the batter and catching a line drive to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, with Julie Frank on second, Franki Grimes reached base on a walk.  Next up to bat was Hope Franklin who laid a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Frank and Grimes over to third and second base respectively.  With the game winning run at third base Kaitlyn Grimail plated the game winning run on a single.

Powell picked up the win after pitching eight innings, allowing only two hits and striking out nine batters, while Teter pitched 7.1 innings, also allowed only two hits, one run, and surrendered one walk while striking out 10 batters.

In the first game of the day, Grimail started on the mound and pitched five shutout innings to pick up the win. She allowed only one hit, surrendered one walk while striking out three batters.  Franklin led the offense with two RBI’s.

The Royals return to action on Thursday, March 26 as they take a break from Daly Field and travel to Thomasville, Ga. to face off against Thomas University in a doubleheader slated for a 1 p.m. start.