The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Nick Hubel Rams catcher Shannon Causgrove (5) makes contact for a long foul ball down the left field line. Causgrove would single later in the at bat, driving home leftfielder Allison Majam (16) for the first run of the game. The Rams defeated the UNC Bears in nine innings Tuesday, 10-9.

It was the kind of heroic story one might expect from the sister of America's pastime: One at-bat, one swing, and one chance to keep the comeback alive.

Over the span of a single pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning, Rams softball first baseman Christine Thomsen became the heroine the team was looking for. With one out, a runner on first base and her team down by two runs, Thomsen hooked a line shot off Northern Colorado starting pitcher Kelli Henderson over the right field wall, sending the teams into an 8-8 tie and extra innings.

The Rams (19-20, 2-3 MWC) would take two more innings to put the game away, with a bottom-of-the-ninth, two-out triple from junior Allison Majam that plated two runs and sealed the victory, 10-9. For head coach Mary Yori, the win over in-state rival UNC (16-23) was much needed.

"We always have really, really hard battles with UNC. They come over here and they want to win and they play hard. Our kids have to fight hard and that was a great victory for us," Yori said.

The game was a non-con in the middle of the conference season, but that didn't distract the team or leave the players with any less motivation. Majam, who started the game, left in the seventh as part of a routine substitution and returned in the ninth for the game-winning hit, said that the scheduling wasn't a distraction because of the importance of the rivalry.

"Because they're such a big in-state rival I think it's a really good opportunity for us. It really brings out the fire in us because they really want to beat us so we really want to show them that we're the better school in this state," Majam said.

Majam and Thomsen were hitting beach balls all day at the plate, going a combined 6-9 with five RBIs and five runs scored. As a team, the Rams were 13-36, scorching a .361 average.

Continued...

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