The Results
Saint Mary's 4, William Penn 3 (8) • Box Score Central-Iowa 2, Saint Mary's 1 (11) • Box Score
Conference Standings
Through Saturday, March 24, 2001
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Saturday, March 31: at Winona State, noon
OMAHA, Neb. — Central (Iowa) College scored two runs in the top of the 11th inning and held off a late Saint Mary's University charge en route to a 2-1 victory over the top-ranked Cardinals on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, SMU's Jennifer Meyer (Oconomowoc, Wis.) scored from second on a single by Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) with no outs in the top of the eighth inning to beat William Penn 4-3.
After going 10 scoreless innings agtainst the Dutch in a climate more suitable for a hockey game than a fastpitch softball contest, the Cardinals gave up a pair of unearned runs in the top of the 11th, then could only muster a single run in the bottom of the inning in losing for just the second time in its first eight contests.
"It was a great game," admitted SMU coach Nikki Fennern. "It was one of those games that could have gone either way. It was dead-even for 10 innings and you knew that it would all come down to which team could capitalize on the other's mistake. Central did that and that was the difference."
Jill Hocking (Apple Valley, Minn.) took the loss, despite going all 11 innings and allowing just four hits and no earned runs. Both Central runs in the 11th came when the umpire ruled that first baseman Annie Hovde (Cottage Grove, Minn.) pulled her foot on a throw from Huegel at short.
Hocking and Gina Rizzardi (Woodbury, Minn.) picked up SMU's lone two hits vs. the Dutch, while Meyer was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and Hocking was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for SMU vs. William Penn.