Western Washington Vikings Softball - Western Washington University Official Athletic Site

Fox extends scoreless innings streak to school-record 27

Senior pitches third straight shutout as WWU splits twinbill with SMU

Stephanie Fox

April 7, 2012

Box Score - Game 1

Box Score - Game 2

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University's Stephanie Fox (Sr., Sammamish/Eastlake) pitched her third straight shutout as the Vikings blanked Saint Martin's University, 2-0, in the nightcap of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Saturday at Viking Field on the WWU campus.

The Vikings, 10-27 overall and 6-14 in conference action, dropped the opener 7-3. Saint Martin's is 24-12-1 overall and 14-7 in GNAC play.

Fox extended her scoreless innings streak to a school-record 27, surpassing the mark of 22-1/3 set by Erika Quint last season. The GNAC standard is 36-1/3 innings established by Humboldt State's Tracy Motzny in 2006.

Fox, who was solely an infielder for WWU prior to this season, is also working on a string of 41 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run, though she has given up nine unearned runs during that stretch.

On Saturday, Fox evened her record at 5-5 by giving up just six hits, all singles. She worked out of a jam in the third inning when the first two Saint Martin's hitters singled and advanced to second and third, respectively, on a sacrifice bunt. But Fox bore down to get the out of the jam with two ground outs.

The Saints had only one other runner in scoring position, that in the first when they put a runner on second with two outs.

WWU scored the only run it needed in the second. Rachelle Berry (Jr., Alger/Burlington-Edison) led off with a double, advanced to third on a single by Meghan Carrillo (So., Prunedale, CA) and scored on a sacrifice fly by Amanda Flores (So., Ferndale).

In the fourth, the Vikings scored an unearned run off Saint Martin's pitcher Joslyn Eugenio, who suffered her first loss in four decisions.

In the opener, WWU took an early lead with a run in the bottom of the first. Cheyenne Best (Fr., Big Lake/Sedro-Woolley) led off with a walk and scored on a double by Kristen Allen (Jr., Arlington).

That run held up until the fifth when Saint Martin's scored four times, the big blow a two-run double by Megan Antonovich. Antonovich, who had a run-scoring single in the Saints' three-run seventh, was 2-for-3 in the game, driving in three runs and scoring two.

The Vikings scored two runs in the fifth on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Jackie Rothenberger (Jr., Coquitlam, B.C.).

Chelsea Felton (2-2) got the win in relief for Saint Martin's, and Eugenio picked up her second save of the season.

Berry, who had three singles for WWU in the opener and four hits on the day, ran her hitting streak to a team season-high nine games.

The Vikings are at league-leading Montana State Billings on Thursday (1 p.m.) for a GNAC doubleheader.