Feb. 20, 2009
Boca Raton, Fla. - Improving to 4-0 for the first time in four years, the 15th-ranked Missouri softball team blanked its second opponent of the season, besting FIU, 7-0, in game one of the Strike-Out Cancer Tournament hosted by Florida Atlantic. The Tigers scored seven runs on seven hits and two Golden Panther errors. Missouri freshman pitcher Chelsea Thomas (Pleasantville, Iowa) picked up her third win of the season, holding FIU to three hits in seven innings, her second complete game of the year.
Sophomore Shana White (Columbia, Mo.) finished the game 1-for-2 and scored two of Missouri's seven runs. White reached base on balls in both the first and second inning, scoring on a throwing error in the first frame and advancing home on junior Julie Silver's (Chesterfield, Mo.) second inning RBI single. White stole two bases and improves to 2-of-3 on the season.
The Tigers scored four runs in the second inning, with seniors Lindsey Ubrun (Riverside, Calif.) and Gina Schneider (Liberty, Mo.), sophomore Abby Vock (Morrison, Ill.) and White all reaching home safely. Ubrun led off the inning and reached base after being hit by pitch. The Tiger third baseman was one of three Missouri players awarded a base after being hit by pitch in the second inning. Golden Panther Paige Cassady took the loss for FIU and was relieved after allowing six runs on three hits in 1.2 innings. Ashley McClain threw the remainder of the game (5.1 innings) allowing one run on four hits.
Ubrun, who made four plate appearances, drove in the final Missouri run of the game in the top of the seventh inning. With freshman first baseman Ashley Fleming (Silex, Mo.) on second, Ubrun knocked a two out single to centerfield sending Fleming running for home.
Missouri will begin its second game of the three-day tournament at 5 p.m. (CT) against host school Florida Atlantic.