FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4-9-00

College Softball: No. 6 AASU 1-8, No. 2 Kennesaw State 0-5

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Crystal McCracken's two-run home run in the bottom of the fouth inning blew open a tight 4-3 ballgame and sent the No. 6-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State Pirates to a PBAC doubleheader sweep of No. 2-ranked Kennesaw State, 1-0 and 8-5, on Sunday afternoon.

The Pirates (37-4, 11-1 PBAC) trailed, 3-2, entering the bottom of the fourth inning when Kim Claborn led off with a single and Holly Schilling reached on an error by the first baseman. Tesh Wiewel moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt, then Annie Sells drove the tying run home with a sacrifice fly to center field and Crystal Saccomanno drove home the go-ahead run with a single off the left-field wall. But McCracken's first-pitch home run off KSU's Heather Birch put the Pirates up by a 6-3 score and helped AASU hand the Owls (36-4, 10-2 PBAC) just their second-ever PBAC doubleheader sweep.

In the first game, the Pirates' Annie Sells outdueled the Owls' Lacey Gardner for the 1-0 victory. Sells struck out 10, allowing just three hits in recording her ninth shutout of the season, and also scored the winning run after leading off the second inning with a double, then scoring one out later on Nicole Wierauch's sacrifice fly. Gardner held the Pirates to just two hits in the loss.

McCracken went 4-for-6 on the day with three RBI to lead the Pirates offensively. Sells added three hits and two RBI for AASU, while the Owls had no players with more than two hits. Audra Thomas hit her ninth home run of the season in the second game, driving in two, and Krissy Bamford also collected two hits for Kennesaw State.

AASU returns to action on Tuesday, April 11 as they travel to Georgia College & State for a PBAC doubleheader with the Bobcats at 4:00 p.m.

- Pirates -