ST. LEO, Fla.—The reliable arm of Amber Jack got a boost from a newly potent offense to post a 3-0 Sunshine State Conference series-opening win over the Saint Leo Lions on Friday night at SLU’s University Field.
Jack (14-5) notched her fifth straight shutout and ran her scoreless inning streak to 43.1 dating back to Mar. 14 against Florida Tech. She allowed three hits and a walk and struck out eight. The offense, meanwhile, rapped out double figure hits for the second straight game. Ashley Likens, Natalie Heeley and Brittany Anderson all had two hits.
Natalie Heeley, who drove in all three runs for the Bucs (21-9, 6-1 SSC), gave Jack all the support she would need in the first inning when she laced a double down the left field line, scoring Amanda Goelz and Ashley Likens.
Heeley added an RBI single in the third on a rather bizarre play. Grace Collins led off the inning with a single and Likens followed with a walk. Goelz dropped down a sacrifice to advance both runners. Heeley followed with a single to center field to score Collins, but Likens was gunned down at the plate by Tiffinee Harvey and Heeley was hosed at second trying to advance.
Jack took over from there, retiring 16 straight Lions (25-13; 4-3 SSC) at one point.
Ashley Urbanik (15-11) took the loss for the Lions. She gave up three runs on 10 hits and two walks and struck out just four in the complete game.
The teams conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
(03/27/09 at St. Leo, FL)
Barry 3, Saint Leo 0
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Barry........................... 201 000 0 - 3 10 0 (21-9, 6-1 SSC)
Saint Leo………….... 000 000 0 - 0 3 2 (25-13; 4-3 SSC)
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Pitchers: Barry - Amber Jack. Saint Leo – Ashley Urbanik.
Win-Amber Jack(14-5) Loss-Ashley Urbanik(15-11) T-1:45 A-147
Weather: windy