DePaul University Athletics
Smooth Start, Rough Finish for Blue Demons
4/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | SOFTBALL
CHICAGO - It was a bittersweet day for the Blue Demons on Saturday.
The "sweet" was a 6-3 victory over BIG EAST Conference rival Villanova to open up an eight-game home stand at Cacciatore Stadium.
The "bitter" was falling to the Wildcats 3-2 in the nightcap of the doubleheader on back-to-back, two-out home runs in the seventh inning.
DePaul coach Eugene Lenti sat on a bleacher by himself after the second game trying to make sense of what had just transpired.
"We're just not a real good team right now," Lenti said. "Our offense was very good in the first game, especially in the middle innings (two runs each in the second, third and fourth). And, Becca (Heteniak) pitched pretty well.
"In the second game, we're winning 2-1 going into the last inning and Bree (Brown) gives up those two home runs. We've been working with her on maintaining her focus all the way through."
Brown (7-3) was actually on the verge of a nice outing. She had made the most of DePaul's three-hit attack by holding Villanova (14-17, 2-3 in the BIG EAST) by limiting the visiting team to one run on six hits over the first six innings.
In fact, there were two outs when Molly Manning and Kristi Burlin hit their consecutive homers.
"You can't give up home runs when there are two outs like that," Lenti said. "You're also not going to win too many games when you have three hits and two errors."
DePaul (19-13, 3-2) took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Brittney Yniguez's sacrifice fly RBI. Villanova tied it 1-1 in the top of the fifth, but the Blue Demons went ahead 2-1 in their half of the inning when Heteniak intentionally got hung up between first and second base while Sean Plese scored from third.
Plese had reached on a dropped third strike, stole second and advanced on a groundout.
In the first game, Amanda Marquez gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with a solo home run down the left-field line.
But a Blue Demon attack powered by three Alex Morocco hits, two hits and two RBI by Plese and a Simone Ashkar two-run homer provided plenty of cushion for winning pitcher Heteniak.
The DePaul ace improved to 10-9 by scattering six hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking two.
"You should go undefeated with a home stand like this," Lenti said. "Even though we're not pitching real well right now, we've got to regroup and win this three-game series on Sunday."
DePaul and Villanova conclude the series with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday.
NOTES: Morocco was 3-for-8 on the day while Samantha Dodd was 2-for 4... Plese was 2-for-6 and Voss was 2-for7... Heteniak had her six-game hitting streak snapped in the first game... Dodd has a five-game hitting streak and Lynsey Ciezki has hit safely in her last four... Shea Warren had a pinch-hit single in the first game and now leads the Blue Demons with a .324 batting average... Tara Voss is second at .315 and leads the team in hits (28) and runs scored (20) and is second in home runs with five and RBI with 14... Heteniak is hitting .296 while Morocco is batting .293 and Plese .290... Ashkar is hitting .274 and leads DePaul in home runs with six and RBI with 22... Heteniak is 10-9 with a 1.99 earned-run average and opponents are hitting .192 against her... Brown is 7-3 with a 3.01 ERA and an opponents' batting average of .244.
