Central Michigan University
Akron
Softball Wins 15-Inning Marathon Game, 3-1
3/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 27, 2004
AKRON, Ohio -- What a way to start the conference season.
The Central Michigan University softball team needed 15 innings and the international tie-breaker rule to finally defeat Akron, 3-1, in the Mid-American Conference opener for both schools on Saturday at Buchtel Field. Game two of the doubleheader was suspended in the bottom of the third inning due to darkness with Akron holding a 2-0 lead. Action will resume at noon on Sunday, followed by the regularly scheduled single game.
The opener went to the tie-breaker rule in the 12th inning as the last out from the previous inning was placed on second base to start the frames after that.
The Chippewas (11-10, 1-0 MAC) finally broke the tie with a sacrifice fly by Aimee Smith and then Christin Sobeck added an insurance run with a solo homer to left field. Akron dropped to 12-10 overall, 0-1 in the MAC. The game last four hours and 29 minutes.
"Both teams had opportunities, upon opportunities, upon opportunities that they squandered away," CMU coach Margo Jonker said. "But, I was very pleased with our perseverance and how we hung in there and didn't give up. It would have been easy to give up or have a letdown with a 15-inning game. We did a great job of keeping their No. 3 and No. 4 hole hitters off the bases."
Amber Puchalski tossed all 15 innings for CMU, allowing just five hits while fanning 14. She notched career strikeout No. 800 in the first inning but the Zips managed to push a run across in the opening stanza thanks to an RBI double by Kerry Omerza.
Puchalski (6-5) didn't allow a run the rest of the way, and didn't surrender a hit in the final seven innings.
CMU tied the score in the fifth when Lindsey Calme singled and was replaced by pinch runner Brittany Fulks. A sacrifice by Stephanie Crews moved Fulks to second and she was driven home by a Karen Hohs RBI double.
The Chippewas tallied 10 hits in the game but committed three errors. Akron committed one error in the field.
Tina McCauley (7-5) took the loss for the Zips, going the distance and fanning 11.
Hohs, CMU's leadoff hitter, went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two walks. Sobeck was 2-for-7 with the homer, her fourth of the season. A pair of freshman also tallied multiple hits as Calme was 3-for-7 and Jacque Benedict 2-for-5.
The game ended when Crews made a diving catch on a line drive at short.
In the second game, Akron jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a Kelly Quigley two-run homer off pitcher Jessica Garvin.
NOTES:
* Amber Puchalski now needs 30 strikeouts to tie the Mid-American Conference record for career "K's" held by former Toledo pitcher Tami Johnston (842).
* Christin Sobeck needs one more home run this season to tie for fifth on the CMU single season chart with five. She hit five last season and has nine for her career. Her next roundtripper will also tie her for seventh on the career chart.
* The 15-inning game was far from the longest in CMU history. The Chippewas and Kent State played a 28-inning game on April 21, 1984. CMU won 2-1.
