 Sports News Search Classifieds Classic Cougars
March 20, 2000 
Sweatshirts, gloves, hot cocoa and aluminum bats. All the signs of an early softball tournament at Cougar Field.
This was the fourth meeting this season between Columbia (16-5) and Culver-Stockton (9-10), with the Cougars sweeping the overall series and outscoring the Wildcats 22-1. With temperatures in the mid-30s and a little drizzle, the Cougar hits came early and often. Five of Columbia’s first six baserunners scored in the first inning, and seven of the first eight scored in the second. What was most impressive about the offensive production was that it came against Culver-Stockton’s Crystal Miller, a hurler Cougars coach Wendy Spratt called one of the toughest her team has faced this year. “They’ve got a great pitcher, but we were able to make this one easy with good hitting from our leadoff hitters,” said Cougar catcher Carly Millsap, a 1999 honorable mention All-NAIA selection. “That’s what gets us going, being able to get on base early.” Culver-Stockton displayed poor defensive play throughout the game. On several occasions, Wildcat outfielders were slow in reacting to pop flies, resulting in several Cougar doubles and Judy Lochmann’s two-run triple in the second inning that put this game away. “Baserunning has been one of our concerns all season, not making good decisions,” Cougar coach Wendy Spratt said. “Obviously that wasn’t the case today. We were able to take advantage of some breaks.” The Cougar defense limited Culver-Stockton to four hits and a late run in the fifth inning, with Millsap making the game’s most memorable defensive play. The senior catcher stopped an early Wildcat scoring opportunity when Culver-Stockton second baseman Adrianne Talbert charged towards home plate on a weak infield grounder in the top of the first. Cougar second baseman Whitney Fletchall threw a rocket to M illsap, who blocked the plate and tagged Talbert after the two collided. “I wasn’t sure if I tagged her or not,” Millsap said. “The umpire said I tagged her the first time, but I went ahead and tagged her three times just to make sure.” Freshman shortstop Kristina Jones led the Cougars, going 3-for-3 — all singles — with two RBI and two runs scored. On the mound, 1999 American Midwest Conference pitcher of the year Natalie Buitink had another outstanding performance, striking out one and forcing several infield grounders for easy outs. “We had a great offensive tournament,” said Buitink. “We just carried our bats over from our previous games and that made it real easy for me.” Culver-Stockton advanced to the title game by defeating Mt. Mercy 7-0. Columbia also beat Hannibal (5-4), Culver-Stockton (2-0), and Mt. Mercy (5-0) in Saturday’s tournament pool play. Columbia was originally scheduled to play in the William Woods Tournament at Cosmopolitan Park this weekend, but because of the poor field conditions, Columbia hosted a tournament of their own. The Cougars will face conference foe McKendree College on Tuesday before making a four-game road trip to Hawaii to take on BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade and a double-header against Hawaii Pacific.
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Columbia College catcher Carly Millsap gets one of her two hits during
the Cougars' 12-1 win over Culver-Stockton in Sunday's final of the
Cougar Classic. The Cougars dominated their own tourney, winning the
semifinal 19-0.