Brakettes Drop Tough Contest To Thunder

July 7, 2006 - The Connecticut Brakettes lost the second game of a four-game series with the Texas Thunder Thursday night by a 1-0 margin. After having beaten the Thunder by the same score the night before, the Brakettes salvaged just three hits off of rookie pitcher Serena Settlemier, while fanning eight times. Sarah Pauly took the loss for the Brakettes, despite recording six strikeouts and giving up only three hits. Her six walks allowed were a season high.

Both teams seemed to struggle with their bats, as for the second straight night, the game was defined by solid starting pitching. Settlemier, the Big 12 player of the year who just finished a solid career at Kansas, improved to 2-3 on the year. Pauly dropped to 6-3 with the loss.

The only run scored in the game came with two outs in the seventh inning. Rocky Spencer lined a double into the right-center gap to start the rally. Lindsay Gardner worked a walk, putting runners at first and second, and bringing Kristen Zaleski to the plate. Zaleski had struck out her first two at-bats, but had nailed a triple down the left field line the previous inning. She hit a grounder to second base, which was fielded cleanly, but thrown to the outfield side of first base. As the ball bounced away from the bag, Spencer came around third and raced home to score the winning run.

The first two games of the series have both been pitcher’s duels, with only two runs scored and ten hits recorded between both teams. Jessica Merchant, Germaine Fairchild, and Kelly Kretschman each tallied a hit apiece for the Brakettes.

Game three of the four-game set will be played Friday night, at 8:05 Eastern Time. Nikki Myers will be the starting pitcher for Connecticut.

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