Danielle Lawrie Pitches Two-Hit Shut Out to Lead The Florida Pride Past The Chicago Bandits
ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Danielle Lawrie (2-1) came through with a stellar pitching performance Thursday evening at the Dell Diamond. In just her third start, Lawrie helped the Florida Pride defeat the Chicago Bandits and star pitcher Jennie Finch (5-2) by a score of 2-0.
Both teams battled to a scoreless tie until the fifth inning when the Bandits defense committed a throwing error
that was followed by a solid single to left field that resulted in the USSSA Pride moving out to a 2-0 lead. Lawrie continued her outstanding work to make sure the lead held up as she kept the Bandits bats quite as she allowed just a pair of hits on the evening.
Finch found herself in trouble in the first inning when she hit Tonya Callahan with a pitch to load the bases with
two outs. That set the stage for Andrea Duran but she was unable to deliver when Finch got out of the jam by
getting her to pop up for the last out of the inning. Finch bounced back in the second inning to retire the side
on just six pitches as she rolled right through a three up and three down inning.
Lawrie was able to get off to a fast start for Florida as she opened the game with a couple of strong innings to
help keep the Chicago bats in check in the early going. Finch went right after the Florida batters in the third and
it paid of for her with another 1-2-3 inning as she found her grove.
That all changed in the fifth inning when Natasha Watley came to the plate with no outs and Lauren Lappin on first. Watley put down a bunt allowing Lappin to advance to second. Lappin used some heads up base running to find her way to third when she found the base uncovered. Lappin got tangled up with Chicago's Christine Knauer but went on to cross home plate with the first run of the game and a 1-0 Florida lead.
Kelly Kretschman kept the rally going when she came up with a single to left field that drove in a run when Watley came across to score on the RBI single. That would leave the score at 2-0 with no outs in the inning. Finch responded by escaping the inning and avoiding any further damage.
Chicago was unable to solve Lawrie as she took a perfect game into the fifth inning before the Bandits Angela Findlay connected for a double the deep centerfield breaking up the no hit bid and putting the first Chicago runner on base. Lawrie issued a walk to the very next batter before facing Emily Friedman with two runners on base. Florida found their way out of trouble moments later when they came up with a double play off a Friedman line drive leaving the score at 2-0.
Lawrie put the finishing touches on her two hit shut-out when she retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was her second win of the season as she gave up just the pair of hits to go along with two walks and six strikeouts. Finch picked up her second loss of the year to go along with five wins as she struck out four while giving up five hits and no walks.
