Feb. 21, 2007

Box Score

FULLERTON, CA - Tennessee senior left-hander Monica Abbott allowed just one hit and struck out 14 on the night as the Lady Vols handed host Cal State Fullerton an 8-0 defeat in five innings on Wednesday night in front of 635 fans at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif.

The loss dropped the Titans to 5-6 overall this season while Tennessee remained unbeaten at 10-0 this year.

Abbott (8-0) struck out the first 11 batters she faced until Fullerton's Kiki Munoz grounded out to third to end the fourth inning. The Titans' lone hit came with one out in the fifth as senior Ashley Van Boxmeer lined a hard shot through the hole on the left side for Cal State Fullerton's lone base runner on the night.

The Lady Vols got the scoring started in the second as Tonya Callahan slugged her third home run of the season over the fence in left centerfield for the 1-0 lead.

The score remained that way until the fourth when a crucial throwing error keyed a seven-run inning for Tennessee that put the game out of reach.

After a lead-off single by Tiffany Huff, Alexia Clay sacrificed pinch-runner Lillian Hammond into scoring position and was followed by a walk to Callahan to put runners on first and second with one out.

That brought up Jennifer Griffin, who weakly grounded the ball back to the circle, but Candice Baker's throw to try and erase Hammond at third was high, tipping off the glove of Yvette Fernandez and rolling to the wall, allowing Hammond to scamper home for the 2-0 lead.

That opened the floodgates for the Lady Vols as Erinn Webb followed with a two-run single to center to make it 4-0. After a fly ball by Nicole Kajitani for what would have been the third out, pinch-hitter Shannon Doepking and India Chiles added RBI singles and Huff added a two-run double to left to cap the scoring.

Baker (3-3) allowed eight runs on eight hits, but only Callahan's home run was credited as an earned run. She walked two and struck out four.

Cal State Fullerton returns to action this weekend as the Titans take the field at the Big League Dreams Sports Park in Cathedral City, Calif., for the 2007 Palm Springs Classic hosted by Oregon State.

Fullerton opens play on Friday (Feb. 23) at 5:30 p.m. as the Titans take on Virginia and immediately follows that up with an 8 p.m. contest against Michigan State.