PHOENIX, Arizona (February 15) - One Cameron athletic program that hasn’t had to brave the bitter Oklahoma cold this week is the Aggie softball team (1-8) who opened up the Division II Leadoff Classic softball tournament in Phoenix, Arizona this morning. The Aggies are in the desert for a two-day round-robin tournament against some of the premier softball squads in the nation.

The team and first-year head coach Richie Nye kicked off the tournament earlier today with a loss against a tough Cal State – Dominguez Hills team by the score 13-8. Later in the day Cameron secured their first victory of the season with a 10-5 defeat of the Eastern New Mexico Zias.

"Our pitching is going to have to do much better," Coach Nye said. "Offensively though I can’t expect much more from the girls than what they did today."

The Aggies found themselves down 6-0 early in the first game and needed some offensive power to get back in the game. An enormous six-run fourth inning, fueled by a three-run homerun by senior shortstop and a two-run double by junior outfielder Whitney Richardson, put the Aggies right back in the game with a 6-6 tie.

Bour finished the game after going a perfect 4-4 from the plate to go along with her 3 RBI’s. Richardson went 1-4 with 2 RBI’s and a strikeout.

Despite Cameron’s offensive firepower, their two-runs over the final three innings were not enough to counter Cal State’s seven.

Senior pitcher Amanda Hibbs had a rough day on the mound, giving up 10 runs on 11 hits after facing 28 batters in her 6.1 innings. While Hibbs did give up double-digit runs, she sat down an impressive seven batters with strikeouts. Freshman pitcher Sherry Tetreault took over midway through the final inning and gave up 3 runs and 1 hit after facing three Cal State batters.

In the second match-up the Aggies seemed determined to win their first game of the season. Eastern New Mexico, one of eight Lone Star Conference teams in the tournament field of thirty-one, was also coming off of a defeat early in the morning (to Central Washington) and was desperately looking to put the loss behind them.

Freshman pitcher Ashton McBride made sure that the Zias would finish the first day with an 0-2 record after her superb day on the mound. She was awarded the win after giving up just 3 runs on 6 hits in her 6 innings. McBride also had 1 strikeout and 4 walks.

Stephanie Bour continued her amazing start to the tournament, and the season, going 3-5 from the plate with two solo homeruns and a double. She finished the day with 5 total RBI’s.

“Stephanie had a very good day with some big hits," Coach Nye said. “We are looking better at the plate and once our pitching comes around we will be looking good defensively."

Joining Bour in the multi-homer club was freshman infielder Callie Schlatter who also contributed 2 solo dingers against ENMU. She finished the game going 3-4 from the plate with 3 RBI’s.

Freshman second baseman Megan Young also contributed offensively to the Aggie win, going 3-4 with a game-high 2 doubles. She also recorded 2 of the team’s RBI’s.

The Aggie softball team takes on Central Washington tomorrow at 1:30pm in their final game of the tournament. Cameron travels to Canyon, Texas next week to take part in the West Texas A&M University Invitational. The team’s first home game does not come until Saturday, March 3rd when they host Southeastern Oklahoma State.