#11 Softball 5/17/2012 7:47:00 PM

OCU blanks Thomas 8-0

LaVelle twirls three-hit shutout, homers, goes 3-for-4

Lily LaVelle struck out 14 on Thursday, leaving her seven short of the NAIA single-season strikeout record.

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Lily LaVelle of Oklahoma City University padded her record strikeout totals with 14 in an 8-0 rout of Thomas (Ga.) on Thursday at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex during pool play of the NAIA softball championships.
Third-ranked OCU brought its NAIA Championships record all-time win total to 104. The Stars (41-18) meet No. 23 Webber International (Fla.) at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the second round of pool play.
LaVelle, a senior from Bridge Creek, Okla., extended her OCU and NAIA career record strikeout amount to 1,337. She has bettered the 1,320 Jessica Irwin of Madonna (Mich.) had from 2008-11 for the NAIA mark and the 865 OCU Athletics Hall of Famer Andrea Drake notched from 1988-91.
LaVelle increased her OCU single-season record to 466 strikeouts, leaving her seven shy of tying Sharon Bell of St. Gregory's for the NAIA single-season record. LaVelle also added to her OCU career marks for wins (116), appearances (161) and innings (857.2).
Thursday, LaVelle (37-3) whitewashed Thomas on three hits and three walks. LaVelle struck out the side in the second, fifth and sixth innings, fanning eight in a row from the fourth to the seventh innings. She retired 11 consecutive batters from the third to the seventh.
LaVelle added a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, scoring three times and knocking in two runs with a double and a home run. Magean De La Torre, a junior from Plano, Texas, went 2-for-4 with a run, double and three RBIs, while Tori Joyner, a junior from Mustang, Okla., went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
LeeAnn Lopez, a junior from Grand Prairie, Texas, went 2-for-5 and scored twice, and Jamie Rateliff, a freshman from Mustang, Okla., was 2-for-4. OCU had 13 hits.
OCU pounced on Thomas with three first-inning runs en route to a 7-0 third-inning advantage. De La Torre pounded a two-run double down the left-field foul line with two out in the first. De La Torre reached home on center fielder Kortney Campbell's error after getting to third base on Rateliff's base hit.
In the second, Joyner scored on shortstop Kallie Shirling's miscue. De La Torre socked an RBI single through the middle of the infield, then Angela Lovelady hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field.
The Stars went up 7-0 in the third. LaVelle hammered a solo homer over the left-field fence with two out. LaVelle drove in another run on an infield single to score Joyner, who had preceded LaVelle's at-bat with a double.
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