SOFTBALL

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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo softball team posted an 0-3 record at the 2001 Southeast Missouri State Softball Classic, losing to No. 27 Illinois-Chicago on Friday, 7-3, and to Northern Iowa, 6-0, and Southwest Missouri State, 5-4 in extra innings, on Saturday. The Bulls were also scheduled to play Western Kentucky and host Southeast Missouri State on Sunday, but all games on the final day of the tournament were rained out.

The Bulls met 27th-ranked Illinois-Chicago in their opening game of the tournament and led the Flames by a 3-1 score after a three-run fourth inning during which senior Stacee Madden (Corning, NY/Corning East) and sophomore Lisa Cox (Getzville, NY/Williamsville North) each drove in a run. The Flames, however, answered back with two runs in the fifth inning and four runs in the sixth to win the game by a 7-3 score. The Bulls committed three errors during the game, and pitcher Andrea Sage (Depew, NY/Depew) allowed just one earned run while throwing the complete game.

In its second game of the tournament, Buffalo was shut out by Northern Iowa, 6-0. The Panthers' Cara Graver threw a complete-game no-hitter while striking out seven, and Northern Iowa had six hits and scored one run in the first and third innings and four in the sixth to earn the win.

The Bulls lost their final game of the tournament in the bottom of the eighth inning to Southwest Missouri State. The Bulls forced extra innings after coming back from a 4-0 deficit and scoring two runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh innings. Freshmen Breanne Nasti (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) and Heather Robbins (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) each hit two-run home runs to tie the score at 4-4, but a SW Missouri State single up the middle scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to give the Bears the 5-4 victory. The Bulls recorded six hits in the loss, and Sage struck out five batters.

Buffalo (2-7) will play at Missouri-Kansas City on Wednesday, March 7 before competing in the Creighton Invitational in Omaha, NE from Friday, March 9 to Sunday, March 11.