Rogers Leads USSSA Pride Past Akron Racers, 4-1
June 27, 2016 - National Pro Fastpitch (NPF)
USSSA Pride News Release
AKRON, OH - The Akron Racers couldn't solve USSSA Pride starting pitcher Hannah Rogers, who held the Akron Racers lineup to just one run and helped the Pride edge out a 4-1 win on Sunday afternoon at Firestone Stadium.
Pride right fielder Kelly Kretschman opened the scoring in the top of the first inning by sending a solo home run over the fence in deep right field to give her team the early 1-0 lead. One-run innings became the theme for USSSA (12-3) as they put up four of them during the ballgame.
"I think in the league in general, scoring first is huge," Racers field manager Brian Levin said. "I know earlier in the year when we scored first we won eight out of nine games, so that's huge."
The Racers (9-7) fell into a first inning deficit for the second consecutive game, putting added pressure on a lineup that has only mustered up 10 combined hits in two games against USSSA.
USSSA backed up the one-run first inning with another run in the second frame. Pride second baseman Amanda Kamekona plated Chelsea Goodacre for the 2-0 advantage. In the top of the third inning, Pride third baseman Missy Taukeiaho scored Kretschman, who had reached base on an error by Akron first baseman Sam Fischer. The hit pushed the score to 3-0 in favor of the Pride.
After the third inning, Racers starting pitcher Jailyn Ford (James Madison) began to settle in as she retired the next six hitters that she faced, which kept the Pride lineup at bay for two innings.
She let in just one run through the final four innings. In a complete game effort, Ford allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out five batters in the process.
Akron designated player Geri Ann Glasco (Oregon) blasted her first professional home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the fifth inning in an effort to jumpstart her team's offense that hadn't scored a run in the previous eight innings going back to last night. However, this was the only offense that the Racers mustered up all evening.
"Losing is never fun, but it was nice to get out there and let go of everything that happened before and finally break open the hits and help the team out in whatever way I could," Glasco said. "Obviously, we are not settled here and we want to come out and play better tomorrow and get a win."
The Racers have now dropped two straight games after going 4-1 on their five-game road trip.
"We have to attack and we are not.," Akron third baseman Kelley Montalvo said. "We are getting too passive and the pitchers are getting ahead, so it's easy to be in the box and up 2-0. I think we need to attack early and be more aggressive at the plate."
Rogers was in control in her 5.2 innings pitched allowing just one run on four hits, which bumped her season record up to 3-1.
These two teams will take a short road trip to the University of Michigan as they square off again tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The contest can be seen on CBS Sports Network.
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- Rogers Leads USSSA Pride Past Akron Racers, 4-1 - USSSA Pride
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