YSU SOFTBALL Penguins battle UIC in Horizon tourney

Youngstown State is the No. 8 seed facing the top-seeded Flames.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Youngstown State softball team (19-32) enters the 2005 Horizon League Tournament today as the eighth seed.
The Penguins begin tournament play with a 10 a.m. game here against top-seeded Illinois-Chicago (38-25), the regular-season champion.
In the second round, the Penguins will face either No. 4 Loyola or No. 5 Detroit.
UIC swept the season series from Youngstown State with victories of 3-2, 3-1, and 8-7.
Freshman Sarah Berry turned in an impressive series, batting .500 with three runs batted in. Freshman McKenzie Bedra played in the series finale but made a big impact with a 3-for-4 performance with two doubles, a home run and three runs batted in during YSU's 8-7 setback.
Leading home run hitter
With seven home runs this season, Bedra leads the Penguins and is tied for fifth in the Horizon League. Her seven round-trippers also rank her tied for third on the YSU single-season home run chart.
In her sixth season as Youngstown State's softball head coach, Christy Cameron owns a record of 114-183-1 and a seven-year overall coaching mark of 130-211-1.
After winning its first two tournament games in the 2003 postseason, Youngstown State has lost its last four tournament games dating to 2003.
Last season, YSU was eliminated by Wright State, 1-0, and also lost to Butler, 1-0, in the first round.
One run shy of 100
Junior Tiffany Patteson is YSU's all-time leader in runs scored with 99 and needs one more to become the first player in school history to score 100 runs during a career.
Patteson also is moving her way up the YSU all-time hits list and ranks fifth with 168 career safeties.
Patteson, who leads the team with a .347 batting average, has 58 hits this season, which is the second-highest single-season total in school history.
Freshman Sarah Berry, who is hitting .333, has had a breakout season, especially against Horizon League foes. The native of Acton, Ont., is batting a team-best .393 against League opponents and owns a slugging percentage of .518.
Youngstown State has not fared well in close games. The Penguins own a record of 7-16 in one-run games and a mark of 5-4 in games decided by two runs.