April 13, 2007
Methodist Opens With Victory
Senior Jessica Hutzul earns the win in the circle for the Monarchs

BURLINGTON, N.C. – Second-seeded Methodist University opened up the 2007 USA South Conference softball tournament Friday morning at Springwood Park with a 3-1 victory over No. 7 Averett.

Methodist (28-7) moves on to the 2:00 winner's bracket contest against the Shenandoah/Greensboro victor. Averett (10-25) will play the SU/GC loser at 4:00. This is a schedule change from the previously published bracket - the 4:00 loser's bracket game was added in the hopes of beating the poor weather scheduled for the Burlington area on Sunday. The tournament will now conclude Saturday night.

Methodist nearly took the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Sara Poling took a Brittany Estep fastball deep to left-center field, only to be robbed at the fence by the Averett outfield. As a result the Monarchs were held scoreless in the first.

Greensboro silenced the Averett cheer with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the second inning. LaTiana Headen hit a towering shot to left field that the ball park just would not hold. As a result the Monarchs took a 2-1 lead with Candace Hudgins scoring from second base after her early inning double on the home run by Headen.

Both teams struggled from the plate in the third inning, but found plenty of defense around the diamond. Greensboro belted two potential hits to the outfield, but Averett left and center fielders, Ashley Meredith and Kaci Bentley, made two terrific grabs on the run to shut down the Monarchs in the bottom half of the third inning to keep the game 2-1 in favor of Methodist.

Averett pitcher Brittany Estep found trouble early and Methodist increased their lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning. Kayla Talbert got a free pass on balls to first, followed by a Hudgins single to put runners on first and second base with only one out. Estep was then able to get Billye Rivas to ground to short stop for a force out at third, but then LaTiana Headen got the best of Esteps again by knocking a single to right field for her third RBI of the game to give the Monarchs a 3-1 lead. The Cougar pitcher would bounce back though with two outs and a runner in scoring position. She threw a fastball to catch Courtney Kerns swinging to retire the side, but the damage had been done.

The Cougars were not able to muster any runs in the top of the fifth inning thanks to the strong right arm of Emily Beck. Beck, who came in for relief of Jessica Hutzul, gave up one hit, but was able to retire the side to keep the two run lead in favor of the Monarchs.

Methodist threatened again in the bottom of the fifth, but was denied a chance to open up their lead. The Monarchs quickly loaded the bases on Estep with one out, but the Cougars pitcher caught Kayla Talbert looking for a called third strike and got Hudgins to pop up to short stop to end the Methodist scoring threat and keep the game within striking distance at 3-1 in favor of the second seeded Monarchs.

AU reeled off three straight hits to start things off in the game, leading to one run on the three hits. Kaci Bently singled, followed by Ellie Blackburn, who moved Bently over to third on another single. Amy Green then brought Bently across the plate with an RBI single to left field to give Averett a 1-0 lead with no outs. Methodist pitcher Jessica Hutzul would work her way out of the jam though by retiring three straight batters with the help of her infield to hold the Cougars to the one run and strand two runners on base.

That feat would be easier said then done at the plate for Averett. The Cougars could not squeeze out a hit in the sixth inning mainly due to the fresh right arm of Beck. Beck was able to go three up and three down in the inning to protect the 3-1 lead for the higher seeded Monarchs.

Averett’s rally fell short in the top of the seventh as they stranded the tying run on first as Beck was able to retire the side once again. LaTiana Headen knocked in all three of the Monarchs runs in the winning effort, while Jessica Hutzul walked away with the win on the mound.

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