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Colleges

Without ace, Lions flop in postseason

Saint Leo's Katie Heintz's injury keeps her off the mound and contributes to two losses.

By STEVE LEE
Published May 18, 2005

ST. LEO - The left arm of Katie Heintz turned out to be a double-edged sword for the Saint Leo softball team.

The Lions rode a record-breaking season by the junior southpaw to 35 wins and the playoffs. An ill-timed shoulder injury, however, sidelined Heintz, and Saint Leo bowed out of the NCAA Division II South Region tournament in two games.

"She took it pretty hard," Saint Leo coach Christi Wade said. "She kind of took it on her shoulders and said it was her fault. I told her the team needed to pick it up, and we didn't."

Saint Leo (35-17), in the playoffs for the third time in six seasons, fell to 1-6 in postseason play after two losses in last week's double-elimination series at Alabama-Huntsville.

The Lions dropped into the loser's bracket after Thursday's 9-0 loss to Sunshine State Conference rival Florida Southern. The season ended with Friday's 5-3 loss to Alabama-Huntsville.

"We didn't get the results we wanted," Wade said of her team's fifth-place finish. "We kind of went in down a (key player) and not having our best."

Heintz, whose sore left arm forced her out the team's last three regular-season games, gave it a shot by starting Thursday's game. But Wade pulled her ace after Heintz allowed a single and two walks to the first three batters.

"We tried her, but you could just tell she didn't have it, so I made the change," said Wade, who sent in freshman Kiki Van Holt, a former River Ridge standout, to finish that game.

Heintz took the loss and finished the season at 24-8 with an 0.74 ERA and 12 shutouts. She also set game (23) and season strikeout (360) school records.

Heather Gamlin, a senior right-hander who as a freshman won 32 games and fanned 267, started Friday's game and took the loss to finish the season 8-8.

Trailing 2-0, Saint Leo took a lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning before Alabama Huntsville tied it in the fourth and got two more in the sixth.

The Lions got four of their six hits in the third, highlighted by Heather Stroud's two-run single. Stroud, a freshman who starred at Pasco, went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Saint Leo's Ashley Black tripled in the third and scored on Alison Flynn's two-out single. Erin Brunt doubled with Flynn and Brunt scoring on Stroud's hit.

ALL-SSC: Heintz, senior second baseman Denyve Duncan and Brunt, a sophomore catcher, were named all-conference. Heintz made the first team. Duncan and Brunt are second-teamers.

Duncan, the SSC co-player of the year last season, led the Lions in hitting (.317), hits (53), runs (33) and total bases this season.

Brunt batted .309 with a team-leading 11 doubles, 24 runs and 17 RBIs.

[Last modified May 18, 2005, 00:50:19]