CANISIUS ELIMINATES LONG ISLAND, WILL FACE HOFSTRA ON SUNDAY

Junior center fielder Jenny Maheu (Hollister, CA/San Benito) hit a two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh inning to give the fourth-seeded Canisius Softball team a 3-2 win over third-seeded Long Island in an elimination game of the 2008 NCAA Hempstead Regional on Saturday afternoon at Hofstra Softball Stadium.

With the win, Canisius improves to 39-13 overall on the season and advances to face second-seeded Hofstra (44-12) in an elimination game on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. The winner of that game will then move on to face top-seeded Arizona (38-16) in the regional finals at 12:30 p.m.

Senior shortstop Ashley Bonetto (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) started the rally when she hit a ball up the middle that LIU senior shortstop Celina Castillo (Redwood City, CA/Carlmont) nearly made a great play on, but had the ball pop out of her glove for an infield single. Freshman first baseman Emily Helbig (Marina, CA/Santa Catalina) then followed with a line drive single to put runners and first and second, and with two out Maheu hit a double to the wall in left-center to break the 2-2 tie.

Freshman pinch-hitter Amanda MacIntosh (West Hills, CA/El Camino Real) singled in the bottom of the seventh for LIU, but Canisius senior reliever Lindsay Morris (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) was able to close the door and get the win to improve to 11-6 on the season. Morris allowed just two hits and struck out four in three innings of relief.

Canisius took advantage of three LIU errors to score two runs in the third inning. Helbig and senior right fielder Brittany Bonetto (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) reached on back-to-back errors, and moved up a base on a passed ball. After a walk to senior second baseman Katie Miranto (N. Tonawanda, NY/N. Tonawanda) loaded the bases with two outs, sophomore catcher Michelle Fridey (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) tapped a slow roller in front of home plate for an RBI single, with a second run coming home as senior first baseman Vanessa Mejia's (Roanoke, VA/Northside) throw went into right field. The Blackbirds were able to get Miranto trying to score all the way from first to end the inning with the score 2-0.

LIU answered, though, in the bottom of the fourth inning on a bases-loaded two-run single with two outs from sophomore second baseman Brynn Lewis (Woodinville, WA/Woodinville). Castillo led off with a bunt single and moved to second on a single from Mejia. After a sacrifice bunt and a walk loaded the bases, Lewis hit a shallow line drive to center field that Maheu was almost able to make a diving catch on, but it bounced just in front of her glove as two runs came home to score. Fridey was able to get the Golden Griffins out of the inning by picking a runner off of second.

Sophomore Blaire Porter (Redmond, WA/Redmond) went the distance in the circle for Long Island, allowing five hits and just one earned run to fall to 20-10 on the season.

2008 NCAA Hempstead Regional
(double-elimination format)

Friday, May 16 - Rained Out

Saturday, May 17
Game 1: Arizona 11, Canisius 0 (5 innings)
Game 2: Hofstra 1, LIU 0
Game 3: Arizona 10, Hofstra 0 (5 innings)
Game 4: Canisius 3, LIU 2

Sunday, May 18
Game 5: Hofstra (44-12) vs. Canisius (39-13), 10 a.m.
Game 6: Arizona (38-16) vs. Game 5 winner, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Same two teams (if necessary), 30 minutes following