West Virginia daily

Miami Softball Travels to MAC West-Leading Central Michigan Wednesday :: RedHawks Currently Third Overall in Mid-American Conference Softball - Miami University RedHawks - Official Athletic Site

Miami stands in third place overall in the MAC, just a game behind Central Michigan, which holds the MAC West lead and is No. 2 overall.

Though the RedHawks lost out on chances for more wins in Buffalo, Miami still threatens the school record for wins in a season. With 28 wins, Miami is behind only the 1991 team, with 34, and the 1990 team, with 36. Miami is also nine games over .500 for the first time since 1991.

While the RedHawks and Chippewas have played five times in 2003 and 2004 with Miami holding a 4-1 advantage, the RedHawks have not played at CMU since 1999 when the Red and White split a doubleheader.

Miami defeated top-seeded Central Michigan, 1-0, in the second game of the MAC Tournament on May 13, 2004 in Akron, Ohio. A solid pitching effort by Jackie Poggendorf and an impressive showing by the Miami defense held CMU to four hits on the night.

Miami opened up the first inning with three straight bunt singles by Jamie Carey , Poggendorf and sophomore Bianca Paz . Paz's bunt single scored Carey, which eventually was the game-winning run. In the third inning, Central Michigan looked to strike with runners on first and third and just one out. Karen Hohs stole second and advanced to third after catcher Becca Garcia threw to Paz, Miami's shortstop, who then threw back to Garcia who prevented a CMU run by blocking Stephanie Crews from crossing home plate. Poggendorf then threw one of her five strikeouts for the game to end the inning.

Miami again stood strong on defense to stave off another Chippewa attack on the bases. With a runner on first and second and no outs, Poggendorf threw another strikeout before Paz knocked down a fielder's choice hit, which came just to the left of second base, and shoveled the ball to senior Jessica Zogaib to get the out at second. The final Chippewa hitter popped up to the Zogaib at second base to end the inning.

The CMU batters went down in order in the fifth and sixth innings, highlighted by an unbelievable stretch at first base by senior Jacque Molinaro , who had her right toe on the bag as she was sprawled out on the ground to pull out the second out of the sixth inning.

Central Michigan's Christin Sobeck singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Christan Dhondt. Poggendorf caught CMU's Jacque Benedict looking, before putting the go-ahead run on first base by hitting Crews with a pitch in the next at-bat. Poggendorf, however, threw her fifth strikeout to end the game.

The RedHawks gathered some steam with their doubleheader sweep of Butler last Thursday, complete with a come-from-behind 7-2 win in the nightcap, but the RedHawks' series with Buffalo was washed out due to rain and snow in the Buffalo area over the weekend. That gives the RedHawks their longest break without games--five days--since February 20-24. The first day of that break was the last time Miami had a rainout, the final day of the Chattanooga tournament against Virginia Tech and Chattanooga.

Though Central Michigan will hold the series advantage for years to come, leading 50-16 on the all-time tote in large part due to a 16-game streak for CMU from 1981-1987 and 17 of 18 from 1994 through Angie Jacobs' first game against CMU in 1999. But the RedHawks have won the last three, all in the MAC Tournament, as well as five of the last six.

After playing games across five time zones during the pre-conference slate in February and March, the RedHawks have not left Ohio since returning from Hawaii on March 21. That changes when Miami's takes its longest trip of the conference season when the Red and White's visits Central Michigan on Wednesday.

Sophomore Leslie Macedo has raised her batting average to .208 after going 4-for-9 in her last three games against Butler and Akron with six RBI and two runs. That's the second-highest RBI all year for Macedo, who raised it to .210 after a 3-for-3 effort against Morehead State in the opener of an April 14 doubleheader in which she became the first RedHawk since Becca Garcia on May 8, 2003 against Central Michigan in the MAC Tournament to record five RBI in a single game.

Senior Jackie Poggendorf is making a strong claim for MAC Pitcher of the Year honors by coming on strong of late. Poggendorf has won her last six appearances, raising her record from 11-11 to 17-11. In that 10-day span, she threw 38.2 scoreless innings, notched 40 strikeouts and allowed only three walks. She also lowered her ERA from 2.46 entering the string to 1.88 at present.

Freshman Breanna Robinson , called "Breezy" by her teammates, entered the nightcap of the Butler doubleheader with one stolen base and a batting average of .159. Following Miami's 7-2 win, Robinson had raised her average 38 points with a 3-for-3 effort, three runs scored and three stolen bases. Robinson's brother, Ryne, is the leading base stealer for the Miami baseball team and has stolen two bases in a game five times this year, making Breanna's three swipes not only a family-best, but also a high for either the RedHawk baseball or softball teams.

The Miami single-season strikeout record was touched twice in the Butler doubleheader. Entering Thursday, with the record at 167, set by Jackie Poggendorf in 2003, Courtney Salmon had 160 Ks while Poggendorf had 163. Salmon threw the first game, a complete-game shutout in which she tied the record. Poggendorf entered in relief in the nightcap and struck out six to establish a new record of 169. As a team, the RedHawk staff has fanned a team-record 337 opposing batters. That stands ninth on the all-time MAC list.

While opposing hitters strike out an average of seven times a game against Miami, going down swinging in 27 percent of their at-bats, the RedHawk hitters average just four Ks per contest, or only 16 percent of the time. The RedHawks also hold an advantage in the walks category, earning a free pass 86 times this year to 67 given out by the Miami staff.

Entering the previous week, Miami was ranked 21st in Division I in fielding percentage with a clip of .972. Against Butler, the team made one error in 56 chances.

In its 22nd season, Miami Softball Field is just three games from seeing its last contest on the northeast side of football's Yager Stadium. The softball RedHawks move next year to a brand new stadium next year, located off the southeast corner of the football facility and just north of Millett Hall. The new facility features fixed seats and permanent press facilities, making it among the finest facilties in the Midwest.

This website is served by the College Sports Online, Inc. .

Website concerns can be sent to our suggestion box .

Copyright © , College Sports online, Inc. and Miami University.

The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated.

No logos, photographs or graphics on this site may be reproduced without written permission.

This is cache, read story here