April 2, 2002

The Viking softball team turned on the hitting machine just in time to tally five runs during a fifth-inning downpour before the second game of a doubleheader against Toledo was called, tied at six all.

Trailing 6-1 in what proved to be the final frame, CSU batted through the lineup, reaching for four hits and three walks, including a crucial bases-loaded walk by freshman pitcher Kortney Spidell (Strasburg, Ohio/Strasburg Franklin), which forced in the game-tying run.

Spidell, who earned a complete game victory in the opening contest, threw all five innings in the second game, allowing six runs on nine hits. Only one of the runs was earned.

Colette McMasters held the Vikings to just one run through the first four stanzas before being knocked around in the final inning.

Down 1-0 with two outs in the first, sophomore Michelle Beightol (Akron, Ohio/Springfield) lined a triple to right-center and scored on junior Stephanie Taylor's (Wintersville, Ohio/Indian Creek) single for a brief 1-1 tie. The Rockets then jumped out to a five-run advantage, scoring two in the second and three in the third, in part from two CSU errors.

In the bottom of the fifth, with runners on second and third and the field soaked from the steady rains, junior Jessica Miller (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) hit a two-out, two-run single to center, cutting the lead to three. Singles by freshmen Michelle Nicholas (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) and Anna Marie Hubert (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Lindsay Ball, who drew an RBI walk.

The runners moved up one more base when senior Tiffany Stocker (Sherrodsville, Ohio/Conotton Valley) reached on an error by third baseman Crystal Rizzuto, bringing the Vikings within one and setting up Spidell's game tying walk. The rally and the game stopped there after Beightol struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Vikings travel to Bowling Green this Thursday afternoon for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.