Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech Takes Second at Capital Classic
March 18, 2001 | Softball
March 18, 2001
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Texas Tech softball squad dropped a 1-0 decision to 13th-ranked in the final of the Capital Classic Sunday after defeating New Mexico 7-1 earlier in the day to reach the title game.
The second-placed finish marks the third time this season the Red Raiders have finished second in a tournament, including The Morning News Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla., last weekend.
In the tourney semifinals, New Mexico jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first with a RBI single from Brooke Chaffee. But Amanda Renfro came in to shut the door on any more scoring in the frame.
The Red Raiders used a five-run fourth inning to break open the contest. Rachelle Biber, Rebecca Eimen and Tracy Cartier all singled to load the bases with one out, and Eva Harshman drove in a pair with a two-out single to center.
Shauna Briggs followed with another two-run single, and after a single to left by Carmen Grindell, Andrea Joachims singled to score Briggs for a 5-1 lead.
Sandy Butler drove in the final two runs of the contest with a single up the middle in the fifth. Renfro did the rest, pitching the final 6.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out 11.
Cartier went 2-for-3 and scored twice, and Biber scored a pair of runs, as everyone in the Tech lineup had at least one hit.
In the tourney final, the 13th-ranked Hawkeyes got an unearned run in the top of the eighth to take the 1-0 victory and their third straight Capital Classic title.
Both teams had chances to win the game in regulation, but neither could come with the big hit. Tech stranded a runner at third in the second, fifth and seventh innings, and Iowa had second and third and no one out in the seventh, but Renfro got a strikeout and two ground outs to end the threat and send the game into extra innings.
The international tiebreaker rule began in the eighth inning, and Iowa scored the only run of the game on a single to center by Lisa Rasche.
The senior Briggs made the all-tournament team in her homecoming to the Sacramento area, going 6-for-20 with eight RBI, four runs scored, two doubles, one home run and three intentional walks. Her home run was a game-tying solo shot in Tech's victory over BYU on Thursday night.
Renfro finished the tournament 4-2 with a save, throwing 40 innings with 56 strikeouts. The senior allowed just three runs, one earned, on 19 hits and lowered her season ERA to 0.61.
Tech's other senior, Sandy Butler, was also a big catalyst on the weekend, going 8-for-25 at the plate with five runs scored, six stolen bases and two RBI.
The Red Raiders open Big 12 play next Saturday and Sunday at Oklahoma State before playing Texas A&M on Wednesday, March 28, at the new softball complex on the Tech campus.
