University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Top Ole Miss In Florida
2/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Boca Raton, Fla. - The Golden Gopher Softball team split in their opening day at the Florida Atlantic Kick-off Classic today (Feb. 19) falling to Pittsburgh, before coming back to beat Mississippi.
Lacey Middlebrooks pitched a gem against Ole Miss (3-3) in leading the Gophers to the 1-0 win and split on the day. Middlebrooks threw the first complete game shutout of her career allowing just three hits in her seven innings of work, while striking out a career high nine batters.
She faced just five over the minimum and walked just one, leading Minnesota (4-4) into the seventh and final inning with the game still scoreless.
Knotted at zero in their final at-bat, Abby Rehberger led off the inning and reached base on an error by the third baseman. A sac bunt by Kari Dorle moved Rehberger to second and a single two batters later by Dannie Skrove was enough to bring Rehberger home for the winning run.
The day began for Minnesota with a frustrating 2-0 loss to Pitt. Alissa Koch had her best performance of the day, pitching a complete game while allowing just two runs and three hits over her three innings.
Barnes, Dorle, Alex Davis and Abby Rehberger all collected hits for the Gophers, who did not have a runner past second base after the second inning.
The Panthers starter was just good enough to be better than Koch on the day, pitching seven innings, allowing just four hits and walking only one.
The Gophers will play two more games at the Kick-off classic tomorrow, taking on Kentucky at 12:00 noon and host Florida Atlantic at 5:00 p.m.
