NU eliminated from WCWS with 4-3 loss to Florida State

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- The seventh-ranked Nebraska softball team was eliminated from the 2002 Women's College World Series with a 4-3, season-ending loss to eighth-seeded Florida State Saturday night at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. The Huskers, who were making their seventh WCWS appearance, ended the season with a 50-14 record and finished in a tie for fifth for the fourth time in school history.

"It's hard to lose your last game the way we did, which was to give them some runs," NU Coach Rhonda Revelle said. "But you have to look at the bigger picture, and we finished fifth in the country. I'm really proud of this team, but you also want to keep building for the future, and the future is bright."

For the second straight game, Nebraska was plagued by defensive errors. The Huskers committed two errors in a disasterous fifth inning. NU tallied three errors overall in the game, marking the first time all season that Nebraska erred three or more times in back-to-back games. The Huskers overcame four errors in a 1-0 win over Michigan Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 4-1 after the top of the fifth, NU scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to pull within a run. After a scoreless sixth inning, Florida State carried its 4-3 into the bottom of the seventh. Senior third baseman Cindy Roethemeyer led off and struck out looking. Kim Ogee grounded out to the shortstop, and Lisa Wangler flied out to center to end Nebraska's season.

Sophomore righthander Peaches James (22-9) took the loss for Nebraska, allowing two earned runs on four hits in 4.1 innings of work. Senior right-handed pitcher Leigh Ann Walker took over midway through the fourth and gave up two runs - one earned - on two hits in 2.2 innings. Walker (28-5) ended her career at Nebraska as the all-time strikeout leader with 858 Ks.

After a scoreless second inning, NU took a 1-0 lead in the third. Leslie Malerich gave up back-to-back walks to lead off the inning. Lisa Wangler then grounded out to second to advance Roethemeyer to third and Ogee to second. Amanda Buchholz then smacked a sacrifice fly to deep left field, plating Roethemeyer for the 1-0 NU advantage. Nicole Trimboli grounded out to second to end the third.

Florida State broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring four runs with the help of two Nebraska defensive errors. After James gave up back-to-back singles, Revelle opted to bring in Walker. With one out, Colzie reached on an error by NU third baseman Cindy Roethemeyer, loading the bases for Carter, who singled to left. All three runners then scored on a fielding error by Wangler and a throwing error by Buchholz on the relay to home. Jessica Van der Linden then plated Carter with a single down the left field line to make it 4-1, FSU. Nebraska finally got out of the inning when Tatiana George popped up to second and Monique Marrier flied out to center.

Down by three runs after the top of the fifth, the Huskers responded in the bottom of the inning. Ogee drew a walk with two outs, Wangler singled to shallow left field and Buchholz reached on an infield single to load the bases. Trimboli then ripped a single to left center, sending Ogee and Wangler home to pull the Huskers within a run. Trimboli continued to second on the throw home, but FSU caught Trimboli rounding the base to end the inning with Nebraska trailing, 4-3.

The Huskers fell to 42-30 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 10-13 all-time in the Women's College World Series.