Saturday, March 16, 2002

FIU earns No. 1 seed for Sunday's Coca-Cola Classic finals

wo wins Saturday gave FIU the No.1 seed for Sunday's single-elimination championship round of the Coca-Cola Classic softball tournament at University Park.

The Golden Panthers raised their season record to 24-17 with an 8-0 five-inning victory over Missouri-Kansas City and a 6-4 win over Illinois-Chicago.

In the UIC win, Jennifer Owens' two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh inning lifted FIU. Leah Barnes (4-4) earned the victory with three scoreless innings of relief pitching while Nicole Dubovik went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Against UMKC, Vanessa Preston (8-5) tossed a complete-game one hitter with five strikeouts. FIU got two hits apiece from Leslie Gillen, Crystal Boyer, Lindsay Tippings and Stephanie Wolter who also had two RBI.

Going 4-0 over the first two days of the Coca-Cola Classic, the Golden Panthers play at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning against the winning of Seed No. 4 vs. No. 5 game between Illinois-Chicago and Fordham. UMKC meets Massachusetts at 1:00 p.m. with the Coca-Cola championship game scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Friday, March 15	The FIU/Coca-Cola Classic March 15-17, 2002 FIU University Park
11am -- Missouri-Kansas City (3) vs. Illinois-Chicago (2)
1pm -- UMass (4) vs. Illinois-Chicago (3)
3pm -- Missouri-Kansas City (5) vs. Fordham (2)
5pm -- FIU (2) vs. UMass (1)
7pm -- FIU (11) vs. Fordham (0)
Saturday, March 16
10am -- Missouri-Kansas City (3) vs. UMass (2)
Noon -- UMass (4) vs. Fordham (1)
2pm -- FIU (8) vs. Missouri-Kansas City (0) -- 5 innings
4pm -- Illinois-Chicago (13) vs. Fordham (2) -- 5 innings UIC's Alison Aguilar pitches no-hitter
6pm -- FIU (6) vs. Illinois-Chicago (4)
Sunday, March 17
9am -- Illinois-Chicago (5) vs. Fordham (0) (Game 1)
11am -- FIU (2) vs. Illinois-Chicago (1) (Game 2)
1pm -- Missouri-Kansas City vs. UMass (Game 3)
3pm -- Championship (FIU vs. Winner of Game 3)