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Shortstop Angelina Mexicano smacked a solo homerun and a grandslam in today's action at the Getterman Classic in Waco, Texas.
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Feb. 12, 2006
Waco, Texas--Illinois split games on the final day of the Getterman Classic in Waco, Texas beating Wichita State 8-7 before falling to Tulsa 7-8 in extra innings.
Illinois came out pounding the ball, jumping on Wichita State early and scoring two runs in the first inning. Rachelle Coriddi started the game with a slap shot to leftfield and scored from first when Shanna Diller lined a laser to the right fielder who misjudged the ball, letting it get past her to the wall. Jenna Hall followed, smoking a line drive shot to center field hitting the wall square on and scoring Diller from second base.
Wichita State answered in the bottom of the inning capitalizing on an Illini error, scoring two runs on no hits. The Shockers added three more runs in the second inning when back to back doubles by centerfielder Erin Peters and Katie McGeeney set up a Britnee Barnett two run homerun over the leftfield wall.
The Shockers were up 5-2 going into the third when Diller smashed a two run homerun keeping the Illini alive.
Hall was making dents in the outfield wall all day. In the fourth she smashed her second ball into the wall, this time in leftfield, scoring two and giving the Illini the lead once again 6-5.
The Illini got out of jam in the sixth when with runners on first and second and one out Stephanie De La Riva popped out to Courtney Hoogeveen at second who then doubled off pinch runner Miranda Feldman sleeping off of second.
Illini hitters made it easy on the pitching staff by not letting up. Shortstop Angelina Mexicano hit her first career homerun in the top of the seventh scoring KaceyCoonce on first. The Illini were leading 8-5 going into the last inning but the Shockers were not going down without a fight. After a pinching hitting Tawnya Guthrie got on with a bloop hit to right field, leadoff batter Erin Peters hit a homerun over the leftfield wall decreasing the deficit 8-7. With a runner on first and one out the Illini ended the game with a flashy 6-4-3 double play that sealed the victory.
Kacey Coonce (1-0) picked up her first win for the Illini going six innings allowing eight hits on five runs.
Illinois faced Tulsa in the second game of the day going eight innings before falling to the unbeaten Golden Hurricanes 8-7. Tulsa jumped out to an early 4-2 lead and by the sixth inning the Illini were looking for a way to break through. The Illini found their spark in sophomore Angelina Mexicano who smacked a grand slam, giving the Illini their first lead of the ball game 7-4. Number nine hitter, Courtney Hoogeveen started the inning by getting on, on an error and scored when a Jenna Hall sharp single through the left side scored Hoogeveen from second. Later, with bases loaded Mexicano smacked her second homerun of the day in the same spot the game before over left field wall.
In their final inning Tulsa answered with three earned runs. Pinch hitter, Brooke Smart hit a two run homerun and Tulsa produced one more run to even the score 7-7, moving Illinois into extra innings after the Illini could not manufacture a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Going into international tie-breaker rules, Tulsa placed a runner on second to start the eighth inning and moved her around the bases capitalizing on an Illini error. Tulsa held the Illini in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory.
Leadoff batter Rachelle Coriddi and shortstop Angelina Mexicano were offensive leaders of the day. Coriddi had six hits accounting for four Illinois runs while Mexicano had four hits with six RBI.
The Illini return to action next week in Las Vegas where they face Oregon State and California on Friday at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic.
