DePaul University Athletics
Iowa Beats DePaul 7-4 in Regional
5/18/2001 12:00:00 AM | SOFTBALL
May 18, 2001
IOWA CITY, Iowa--Neither pitcher was on her game, but Iowa's Kristi Hanks outlasted Sarah Martz 7-4 in NCAA Regional play.
Two towering Hawkeye homeruns doomed the Blue Demons. Alicia Gerlach launched the first of the two off the centerfield scoreboard putting Iowa (47-12) ahead 4-1 through its half of the fifth. After DePaul had closed the gap to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Katy Jendrzejewski sealed the win with a two out three run shot in the seventh.
Shavaughne Desecki sent a solo homerun over the right field wall closing the gap to 7-4, but it was too little too late for the Blue Demons.
"This was a great game from a fan's point of view, but it wasn't pretty from a coach's standpoint," said DePaul head coach Eugene Lenti. "Neither pitcher had her best stuff today, but you've got to give a lot credit to Gerlach and [Jendrzejewski]. Those were supposed to be balls out of the zone, but they caught too much of the plate and they hit the ball out of the ballpark."
It was physical mistakes and a mental mistake that Lenti felt cost the Blue Demons the game. Martz, who only had one error all season, committed two and both led to Iowa runs. The mental mistake Lenti reffered to was a foul fly ball that senior Tatum Allen caught in left field with one out and the bases loaded in the second inning.
"We were telling her `drop it, drop it' so the run wouldn't score. That's just one of those things where if she lets it go we probably come out of that inning only down 1-0. Instead, it's 2-0," said Lenti.
DePaul scored runs in each of the last three innings, but played from behind all day. Allen led off the fifth with a double to right field and moved to third on an infield single by Liz Bouck. After Bouck stole her 32nd base of the season, one shy of the school record, Martz brought in the run with a RBI sacrifice groundout.
Allen sparked DePaul again in the sixth when her two-run triple cut the Iowa lead to 4-3. Allen finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI.
The loss drops DePaul to 51-15-1. Its game tomorrow is dependent on the outcome of the Illinois State/Notre Dame game this evening. If Notre Dame wins DePaul will play the loser of Notre Dame/Iowa at 5 p.m. Saturday. If Illinois State wins, DePaul will face Notre Dame at noon.
