The softball team wanted to make a statement on Sunday on Marshall's home field.
Behind the dominant pitching of Stacey Evans, they did just that.
In a performance that garnered her Student Athlete of the Week honors from UB, Evans pitched a 3-0 shutout against Marshall to give the Bulls their earliest Mid-American Conference win in team history. Evans is UB's top pitcher with a 5-6 record.
"If we have a pitching staff that can give up less than two runs a game it will really help us to be in that opportunity to win some games," UB head coach Marie Curran, currently in her third season as Bulls coach, said.
Along with being third in the MAC in ERA as of press time, with a 1.33 average, Evans, a sophomore, is second in innings pitched with 84. This has allowed the rest of the staff to gear up for conference play.
"She's given us an opportunity to work out a couple of kinks in regards to our pitching staff. Heather Robbins and Andrea Sage are coming on real strong now," Curran said. "With the amount of games we have coming up, you'll see them pitch a lot more."
"It's not really me, I just throw the ball so that the batter hits a ground ball or fly ball. It's my teammates who really do the hard work," Evans said of her stats. "The team has been covering every spot on the field and getting the outs."
The game itself started off fast for the Bulls, who scored twice in the first inning off a Kelly Malone double. Evans would not need it, but she helped herself by bringing in Allison Round on a single in the fifth inning.
The Bulls rest at 7-10 overall and 1-2 in the MAC. The victory is also the first ever for the team over Marshall.
The Bulls lost the opening game of a doubleheader Saturday with the Marshall Thundering Herd 3-2 in 10 innings, and faded in the nightcap where they were shut out 6-0. At the time, the losses placed the team at 6-10 overall with a 0-2 MAC record.
Evans pitched the entire opening game for Buffalo and probably deserved better. She took the loss after the Thundering Herd scored in the tenth by getting Sarah Wilson across the plate on a fielding error.
Wilson doubled off Evans to lead off the tenth. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and later scored on a throwing error by UB third baseman Melissa Pace
Even with that critical breakdown, Curran believes the team concept remains strong. Defense will have to carry the Bulls, and a fielding percentage of .975 is a good start.
"I'm so proud of them defensively. We are doing so many things right. Our team knows that if we give up less than two runs a game we have an opportunity to win," she said.
The Bulls had a chance to win the opener as they carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning (a regulation college softball game is seven innings). Marshall's first three batters, however, each hit singles and Sierra Davenport scored to tie the game.
The opener started off promising enough. The Bulls scored two runs in the top of the third off one hit and one error.
In Saturday's final match-up, Robbins took the loss for UB and the six runs to go with it. Robbins was pulled in favor of Sage after allowing five earned runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sage recorded the final two outs of the fifth and recorded a scoreless sixth inning.
Robbins fell to 2-2. She currently has a 7.15 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched this season.
UB opens their home schedule Thursday at 3 p.m. with a doubleheader against Niagara. The team had two games scheduled yesterday at Canisius, but the games were postponed due to rain. No makeup date has been announced.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
