Sooner Earns Their Stripes With Gold Medals

PLANT CITY, Fla. -- An RBI single from Kristie Fox (San Diego, CA, Arizona) in the bottom of the sixth and the
pitching of Alicia Hollowell (Suisun, CA, Arizona) led the USA Elite Team to the gold medal at the 1st World
University Softball Championship on Sunday afternoon. A 1-0 decision over Chinese Taipei, Hollowell continued to dominate the circle allowing just one hit as the U.S. concluded the tournament at 8-1.

“Kristie Fox had a great hit when we needed it today,” said head coach Jay Miller. “This was a good tournament for this ball club and we took some strides throughout the week. Alicia really threw her heart out the last two ballgames and defensively we really took the momentum out of them (Taipei) today. I am very proud of this team and their performance this week.”

Box Score | Team Picture With Gold Medals

The Oklahoma trio of Kami Keiter, Heather Scaglione and Norrelle Dickson all played significant roles in route to becoming international gold medalists and World Univesity Softball Champions.

Dickson started every game at designated player and was third on the team with a .364 batting average. Dickson tallied three runs scored, two RBI and two stolen bases in nine games. She hit a combined .416 in three international tournaments for the USA Elite Team during the last six months.

Scaglione finished with a .250 batting average after playing in six games and starting five. The Sooner All-American had four hits, two runs scored, three RBI and played error-free softball behind the dish for the USA.

Keiter finished her international debut with a 1-0 record and 0.84 ERA. Her tournament was highlighted by a perfect game. Keiter and Amy Harre (Southern Illinois) stifled the Guatemala offense on Friday afternoon (10/29) and notched the first perfect game of the tournament. All totaled, the senior All-American threw 8.1 innings allowing eight hits and one earned run while striking out nine.

Outscoring opponents 28-4 throughout the week, Andrea Duran (Selma, CA, UCLA) led the U.S. hitting charts batting .400 (10-for-25) followed by Sara Dean (Valencia, CA, Auburn) at .375 with a team leading nine RBI.

Finishing the tournament at 4-0 with 49 strikeouts in 28.2 innings, Hollowell totaled seven strikeouts in the gold medal win while seven U.S. batters contributed base hits.

“I came out knowing I had to give everything I could to win this game,” said Hollowell. “Our defense was great behind me after every pitch. I knew this team would find a way to win and we did. It's always exciting to come out on top.”

Quiet bats through two innings, Chinese Taipei put the game's first runner in scoring position in the top of third after a walk to Tzu Hui Pan. Back-to-back sacrifice bunts advanced Pan to third, but with two outs Hollowell shut down the Taipei efforts with a strikeout to end the inning.

An opportunity to take the lead, the U.S. loaded the bases in the bottom half of the third, but failed to capitalize leaving three runners stranded. A one out base hit bunt from Norrelle Dickson (Orange, CA, Oklahoma) followed by a stolen base put the U.S. in solid position bringing Caitlin Benyi (Scottsdale, AZ, UCLA) to the plate. A walk to Benyi and an infield
base hit from Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, CA, Arizona) put three runners on board with one out.

A hard hit line drive from Duran to Taipei third baseman Chiu-Ching Li looked promising, but a force an
out at home and a fly out from Dean ended the U.S. hopes to score.

As Hollowell continued to control from the circle on defense, the U.S. offense put runners in position once again in the fifth. A one out base hit from Benyi and a stolen base advanced her to second before a fielder's choice put Benyi at third with two outs. Duran was then hit by a pitch bringing RBI leader Dean to the plate. A pop out to Taipei second baseman then
closed the inning leaving the sixth and seventh U.S. runner stranded.

Still scoreless, getting the speed of Vicky Galindo (Union City, CA, California-Berkeley) on the bases finally solved the problem for Team USA in the sixth. An infield base hit and back-to-back stolen bases landed Galindo on third with one out. A clutch RBI base hit through the left side from shortstop Kristie Fox (San Diego, CA, Arizona) then brought home Galindo
for the 1-0 lead.

“I just kept thinking, hard ground ball,” said Fox. “I didn't want to put the ball in the air because I had been doing that a lot this week. With just one out, I knew my job was to get Vicky across home plate, step up and make the clutch hit.”

Loading the bases later in the inning, Jodie Legaspi (Garden Grove, CA, UCLA) added a base hit to left field before a pitching change for Taipei halted the inning. Hit by a pitch, Dickson trotted to first to load the bases, but a pop out and ground out would end the inning with a 1-0 U.S. advantage.

One run was just enough as Hollowell and company then sealed the gold medal victory in the top of the seventh with the 1-0 win.

Earlier in the day, Japan captured the bronze medal after a 4-0 lost to Chinese Taipei. 2004 marks the first ever World University Softball Championship and the 2005 tournament is scheduled to take place in Taiwan.

Recap: USA 2, Chinese Taipei 0 (First Game of Medal Round)

PLANT CITY, Fla. -- A perfect game from pitcher Alicia Hollowell (Suisun, CA, Arizona) and one clutch hit from Jodie Legaspi (Garden Grove, CA, UCLA) provided sweet revenge for the USA Elite team on Saturday evening as they captured a 2-0 victory over Chinese Taipei. Facing a 3-2 defeat earlier in the week to Taipei, the win moved the U.S. to 7-1 as they advance to Sunday's gold medal game at 1:30 p.m. The U.S. will battle the winner of the Japan/Chinese Taipei bronze medal game at 11:00 a.m.

“We have started to play better as the week has progressed,” said head coach Jay Miller. “And this was definitely our best game. A big team effort as Jodie came through with a big hit and Alicia controlled the circle. We just need one more like this tomorrow and we will accomplish what we came here for.”

Box Score

A stunning performance from Hollowell with 13 strikeouts, the win marked the second perfect game performance for Team USA.

“We definitely knew as a team that we had to come out and dominate,” said Hollowell. “We played really well tonight. The offense was hitting the ball hard and the defense was on top of their game. I was definitely excited to be in the circle and my pitches were really breaking and working for me.”

Slow hitting continued to curse the U.S. offense through the first three innings with just two base hits, but Jodie Legaspi (Garden Grove, CA, UCLA) shifted the momentum in the fourth knocking in the lone two runs on a towering double to right center.

With two outs, two runners were on board after a walk to Sara Dean (Valencia, CA, Auburn) and a base hit from Vicky Galindo (Union City, CA, California-Berkeley). Legaspi then drove the second pitch of her at bat deep to right center to give the U.S. the 2-0 lead.

“I knew I had to make a clutch hit because there were runners on and two outs,” said Legaspi. “We needed to put some runs on the board so I made the most of my opportunity. This was definitely a team effort and we have to continue that same attitude to take home the gold medal.”

Team USA looked to break open the game loading the bases in the fifth with one out after a Norrelle Dickson (Orange, CA, Oklahoma) base hit bunt and walks to Caitlin Benyi (Scottsdale, AZ, UCLA) and Andrea Duran (Selma, CA, UCLA) covered the bags. But a quick check swing from Sara Dean (Valencia, CA, Auburn) that made contact resulted in a double play to leave three runners stranded.

Back-to-back strikeouts to close the game, Hollowell improved to 3-0 in tournament play while Legaspi finished the night going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

FINAL STATS | RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERIES | ELITE ROSTER

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Earns Their Stripes With Gold Medals

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