May 8, 2005
CLEVELAND - Cleveland State capped off the regular season in emphatic fashion, defeating Loyola, 10-3, on Sunday afternoon at Viking Field. The Vikings won 15 of their final 20 games, including an 8-1 mark down the stretch in the league to earn the third seed in the upcoming Horizon League Championship.
Cleveland State will open the tournament against Butler at 11:00 a.m. CDT on Thursday, May 12 at the Ashwaubenon Sports Complex in Green Bay, Wis. The Vikings are 21-24 overall and finished 10-5 in the league.
Michele Penney staked CSU to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when she drove in Shannon Graves with a two-out single to right field. Penney then came around to score when the Ramblers mishandled Jackie Cornelius' bunt single.
The Vikings added two more in the third when Penney tripled in another two-out run and Cornelius followed with a run-scoring single to chase Loyola starter Mia Pangere.
Cleveland State broke the game open in the fifth, using six hits and an error to push across three more runs. Cornelius and J.J. Thornberry each aided the cause with RBI singles.
The Ramblers (17-35, 8-9 HL) got on the board for the first time in the series, stringing together four hits and an error to score three times in the top of the sixth.
The Vikings quickly matched the outburst with three of their own in the bottom of the inning -- two coming on a Cornelius double off of the wall in left center.
Cornelius finished 4-for-4 with four RBI, while Penney went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Graves also had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three runs scored.
Grace Luginbuhl went the distance to improve to 13-12 on the season. She gave up five hits and two earned runs while walking none and fanning seven. She finished league play with a 7-4 record and a 1.72 ERA.
Pangere gave up five hits and four runs (one earned) in 2.2 innings to fall to 7-12.
"We got out early again and gave ourselves some breathing room by putting some runs on the board," CSU head coach Julie Jones said. "It's too bad we didn't take care of business early in the league schedule, but I couldn't be happier with how we're playing right now."
The Vikings finished 11-3 at home on the year, winning their last five league contests at Viking Field.
