March 22, 2003
Marietta, Ga. - Junior Allison Silver dropped her second-consecutive decision after receiving zero run support from the Hilltopper offense. Western's lone run came by Silver's own hands, as WKU's co-captain blasted a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh.
Silver (6-5) had won five straight decisions to improve to 6-3, but has received just one run in her last 13 innings of work en route to dropping to straight games. In her last outing, Silver pitched seven innings of scoreless softball against Purdue, but took the loss after the Boilermakers exploded for five runs in the eighth inning.
The Hilltoppers threatened to rally in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the deficit to one run on Silver's second home run of the year. Freshman Natasha Sevco followed with a single, to put the tying run on base with no outs, but Maryland's Liz Gall buckled down and struck out two of the next three batters to escape with the win.
The Terps took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, after leadoff hitter Samantha Sweeney scored on a fielder's choice by Malissa Moczulski. Sweeney opened the game with a single and worked her way around the bases by advancing on a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base. Maryland pushed their advantage to 2-0 after Crystal Tweedy scored in the top of the fifth on a double steal.
Senior Kristalyn Smith came on in relief of Silver after the fifth and closed out the game with a perfect sixth and seventh inning. Smith accounted for two of WKU's five hits, as Western Kentucky dropped to 13-13 on the year despite outhitting the Terps, 5-4. Senior Brandy Hawkins has a WKU season high 13 putouts in the losing effort.
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