April 19, 2009

Story courtesy of Union Sports Information

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. -- Union (Ky.) College used a game-two victory Saturday (April 18) over Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Virginia Intermont College on Senior Day to give head coach Bubba Szary his 100th win while at the helm of the Lady Bulldogs' program. Union won the second contest 6-0 and Virginia Intermont took the opener 7-5.

Szary owns a record of 100-152 over his five-year career. Included are the last three seasons in which Union has won 20 or more games in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history. He also guided Union to a program record 38 wins in 2007.

After the split Union moved to 22-21 on the season and ended AAC play at 8-8. Virginia Intermont went to 18-21 overall and 9-7 in conference play.

The two could meet in the opening round of the upcoming AAC Tournament. Union finished the regular season fifth while Virginia Intermont owns fourth at the moment. Make-up games around the conference are scheduled through Thursday, but Union and Virginia Intermont finished conference play Saturday.

Abby Sears (London, Ky.) threw her sixth shutout of the season in game two. The freshman scattered three hits and struck out seven.

Alice Blauser (Hopkinsville, Ky.) singled to start the final game and advanced to second with her 13th stolen base of the season. Sarah Driver (Hopkinsville, Ky.) moved her to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt and then Bethany Outland (Hopkinsville, Ky.) flied out to right in which Blauser scored.

Blauser struck again with a RBI single in the second with the bases full to push Lee Davis (Lexington, Ky.) home. Next at the plate was Driver and her ground ball went to second baseman Heather Odle in which she misplayed the ball to extended the inning and Sherry DeVault (Baltimore, Ohio) scored Union's third run of the game.

Sears drove in Jessie Dunning (Bowling Green, Ky.) with a two out single through the left side to boost Union's lead to 4-0 after three innings.

The final two Union runs came in the fifth inning. The first was Blauser scoring on an error while Driver came home after an Ashley Tatman (Lexington, Ky.) single.

Blauser ended the game going 2-for-2 with two runs scored. She has seven multi-hit games this season now.

Kristen Dyer threw the first three innings and suffered the loss. She allowed four runs, two earned, on six hits.

In the opening game, Haley Odle gave the visitors the lead after a grand-slam home run in the third inning. There were two outs when she knocked the ball over the left-center fence. She added a solo blast in the seventh frame. The home runs were her only two hits of the contests.

Driver provided a two-out single to extend the third inning before Outland singled to center field, however Autumn Arney misplayed the ball which allowed the ball to roll to the fence and Driver scored.

A three-run rally in the fifth brought Union closer. The effort was capped by Sears' single pushing two runs home. Driver scored the first run when scoring on a wild pitch.

Outland and Dunning had two-hit games. Tatman might have only recorded one hit, but she walked three times and scored twice.

Arney added two more hits in the contest.

Driver suffered the defeat after throwing all seven innings. She struck out five batters as she surrendered seven runs on six hits.

The seven runs allowed are the most by Union since King (Tenn.) College scored 11 on April 8.

Nikita Belcher pitched 1.1 for the win in relief. Megan Branson started the game then finished the contest to pick up the save. Branson threw 5.2 innings in all.

Union travels to Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) University to play the NCAA Division II foe Monday. The opening game of the final doubleheader of 2009 is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.