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Box Score 2 #8-ranked CSU San Marcos softball got its season started on the right foot on Friday, traveling to Vanguard and winning the first game 4-0. CSUSM led the second game 5-1 before it was suspended due to darkness.
CSUSM improves to 1-0 on the season, while Vanguard drops to 0-1. The second game will be completed on April 20th prior to the double-header in San Marcos.
The new-look Cougars showed little sign of rust, as the squad jumped on Vanguard early and never let up; though the story of the game, as tends to be the case, was pitcher Brenna Sandberg.
Sandberg, the 2010 NAIA leader in innings pitched and a reigning All-American, was back in top form on Friday. The senior tossed a one-hit shutout, stifling the Vanguard lineup to just a fifth inning single. Sandberg struck out nine and walked three en route to picking up the win.
She got plenty of early support, with the Cougar lineup scoring three runs in the first two innings. A pair of Vanguard errors put two on for CSUSM in the first, and Theresa Houle capitalized with a sacrifice fly that plated Kaitlin McGinley.
The following inning, freshmen Jalisa McCarvel, Alex Miller, and Derrisha Lacey all singled with one out. That brought up leadoff hitter Alicia Ingram, who drove in a pair with a base hit of her own to put CSUSM up 3-0.
The Cougars would add an insurance run in the sixth, with McGinley driving in Lacey. Sandberg did the rest, working perfect sixth and seventh innings to secure the victory.
Game two played out much the same way, with Sandberg surrendering just two hits and a run in six innings of work. The Cougars did most of their damage in the third inning, with Lacey scoring on an error, Houle singling home Ingram, and McCarvel driving in McGinley.
In the fifth, a Houle double plated Dronenburg, and in the sixth Dronenburg recorded a sacrifice fly, scoring Miller.
Sandberg stranded the bases loaded in the sixth, and the game was called due to darkness immediately after.
Today's games were just the start of a long and grueling road trip that will take the Cougars to Hawaii to face defending NCAA Division II national champion Hawaii Pacific, as well as on the road against #1-ranked Cal Baptist, among other places.
