Brenna Sandberg's 19 strikeouts highlighted a pair of dominating wins for #20 Cougar softball at the Sun West Tournament on Thursday.  CSUSM defeated Kenyon College 11-0, then the U. of Puget Sound 10-1.

The wins push CSUSM's win streak to 8 games, and improve the team to 16-6 this season.  Sandberg improves to 15-3 this season.

Against Kenyon, the Cougar offense powered the team to three runs in the first, one in the second, two in the third, and finally five in the fifth to close the game out via the mercy rule.

Shanti Poston led all batters with three hits, and teammates Elizabeth Bush, Alicia Ingram, Alyssa Dronenburg, and Erica Coelho all tallied a pair of hits.  Coelho and Lauren Nelson drove in two runs each in what was a very balanced effort at the plate.

On the mound, Sandberg cruised to the victory, tossing four innings of three-hit, zero-walk shutout ball.  She struck out five hitters before Ciera Ashman came in to close out the game.

It was much of the same in the second half of the double-header, as CSUSM jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second and never looked back.  Ingram, the speedster, and power-hitting Dronenburg led the way, with the former going 4-for-4 with 3 runs and 2 RBI, and the latter going 3-for-5 with her ninth home run of the season and 5 RBI.

Sandberg survived a season-high 7 walks by striking out a season-high 14 in six innings of work.  She allowed just three hits and one run before giving way to Chanel Rose, who threw a perfect seventh to cap the victory.

CSUSM will continue play at the Sun West Tournament on Saturday when they face St. Mary's and host school Chapman.