Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 #20 Cal State San Marcos traveled up to Azusa Pacific on Thursday earned a split, dropping game one 8-7 in 12 innings, but rebounding to win game two 9-3.
CSUSM is now 5-1 on the year, while Azusa is 4-2.
In game one, CSUSM left the bases loaded in the first, but would break through in the second inning, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Ashley Estepa knocked a one-out double, Alicia Ingram beat out a single, and Elizabeth Bush plated both runs with a big double to left. She would then score on a Ciera Ashman single, and after getting to third following an error, Ashman would cross the plate courtesy of an Alyssa Dronenburg sac fly.
CSUSM extended it to a seemingly safe 5-0 lead in the fifth, thanks to a bases-loaded walk drawn by Elizabeth Bush. However, CSUSM would once again leave the bases loaded, and in the bottom of the frame Azusa would take advantage. Three walks, two errors, and a huge three-run triple from Bekah Weisser would pull Azusa even, 5-5.
The game would go to extras, and with the international rule in effect, both teams started each inning with a runner on second. They would trade runs in the 8th and 9th innings, but CSUSM would fail to score in the 10th, leaving the door open. However, Ashman, who moved to the mound in the 9th for starter Brenna Sandberg, was able to cut down the potential winning run at the plate and escape the 10th unscathed.
She would not escape the 11th, however, as CSUSM once again failed to plate a run in the top of the inning; and this time Azusa got the game-winner, courtesy of a Nicole Llorens single.
Despite the tough loss in a game that nearly lasted three hours, CSUSM bounced back nicely in the second half of the double-header.
The squad once again got off to a fast start, plating three runs in each of the game's first two innings. An RBI single from Lauren Nelson and double by Dronenburg provided the runs in the first, and a two-run double by Ashman was the big hit in the second.
Up 6-2 early on, CSUSM held that lead until the latter stages of the contest, when they would add to it. Nelson doubled in Ashman, and Dronenburg and Erica Coelho came in to score on a Shanti Poston double later in the inning.
On the mound, Ashman picked up the win, throwing 3.1 innings of one-run ball and striking out four. It's her first win of the season.
Cougar softball will be back at home this Saturday when they take on Concordia for a 12/2 pm double-header on CSUSM Softball Field.
