Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Following Saturday's losses at CSU Dominguez-Hills, a motivated Cougar softball squad took the field on Sunday and responded with two overpowering wins against Dominican.  CSUSM won game one 7-0 and won game two 10-2, invoking the mercy rule after five innings.

In game one, the Cougar offense got off to a hot start and never looked back.  Ciera Ashman drew a leadoff walk in the first, and adeptly made her way to third on a nice sacrifice bunt by Ashley Estepa.  Ashman was able to trot home when, with two outs, Erica Coelho ripped an RBI double to the gap in left-center.

The Cougars continued to manufacture runs through good fundamental softball.  Tasha Stokes led off the second with a sharply-hit single, and Elizabeth Bush faked a bunt and hit a chopper right through the drawn-in infield.  After Alicia Vicencio sacrificed the runners over, Shanti Poston drove a deep sacrifice fly, and Ciera Ashman drilled an RBI single to make it 3-0.

CSUSM's offense went to work again in the third, as Alyssa Dronenburg and Coelho led off with singles, and Bush drove a run home with a base hit of her own.

Then, after three innings of manufacturing runs, CSUSM dropped the hammer in the fourth.  A base hit by Poston and walk by Ashman put two on for Dronenburg, and she smoked a line drive shot to center that would've torn through the fence had it not flown over it.  Dronenburg's school-record fifth home run of the season made it 7-0.

Meanwhile, the Cougars were just as solid in the field as at the plate.  CSUSM cut down the lead runner in sacrifice attempts in both the first and third innings, short circuiting Dominican's attempts to produce runs.

All this was more than enough support for Cougar ace Melissa Lerno.  Despite tying a season high with four walks, Lerno was virtually unhittable, allowing just one hit and striking out six in five easy innings of work.  Chanel Rose took over to start the sixth, and promptly worked two hitless innings to finish off the game.

In game two, the Cougars not only kept the hot hitting and pitching going, they took it to another level, putting the game out of reach before even recording two outs.  

Ashman once again got the rally started, jumping on the first pitch she saw and knocking it off the fence in left.  Estepa then beat out a bunt, and Dronenburg drew a walk to load the bases.  After a strikeout, Lauren Nelson got the carousel started with a two-RBI single.  Bush kept it going with an RBI base hit of her own, and then a botched throw on a suicide squeeze attempt allowed two more to score.  That brought Vicencio to the plate, and she crushed a three-run homer to left.  Estepa capped off the inning, plating Vicencio with an RBI double that nearly cleared the fence.

When the dust settled, CSUSM held a commanding 8-0 lead.

That was all in support of Ashman, who was making her first start on the mount since the season-opening double-header at Point Loma.  The lefty did just what pitchers are supposed to do when blessed with a big lead:  she threw strikes, kept the ball in play, and worked quickly.  Ashman picked up the win, going 4 innings and allowing just the two runs.

The Cougar offense continued to plug away.  Karen Morizi lined an RBI single in the second, making it 9-0.  After Dominican cut the lead to 9-2 in the top of the third, CSUSM made it 10-2 in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Coelho RBI.  Pitcher Ashley Salvino came in and threw a scoreless fifth to preserve the 8-run lead, invoking the mercy rule and cutting the game short.

Cougar softball, now 12-9 on the season, will be at Hope International on Tuesday.