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#3-ranked Cal State San Marcos softball closed out its regular season on the road on Saturday, sweeping Hope International 7-2 in game one and 14-4 in game two.
The Cougars close out the best regular season in the program's five-year history with a 39-7 record. HIU finishes at 15-32.
Game one was closer than the final score indicated, with the Cougars and Royals locked up in a 2-2 tie heading into the sixth inning. CSUSM got its runs on an Alex Miller RBI single in the first and Theresa Houle RBI single in the fourth, but Hope scored two in the bottom of the fourth to tie it.
That tie would be broken in the sixth, as Heavin-Lee Rodriguez drove in Alyssa Dronenburg to put the Cougars up 3-2. CSUSM would pull away in the seventh, with most of the damage coming courtesy of a 3-run bomb by Miller, to make the score 7-2.
Pitcher Brenna Sandberg continued her record-breaking season, striking out 12 batters and walking none while allowing just 1 earned run on 4 hits. She went the distance to pick up her NAIA-leading 34th win of the season.
And the All-American would get #35 in game two, as the Cougar offense pounded Hope to end the game after five innings. Sandberg would pitch four of those, with Brittany Boone working a hitless fifth to close it out.
Dronenburg got things going right away, crushing a two-run home run in the first inning to put CSUSM up early. The lineup would not relent, adding four more in the second on RBI's by Alicia Ingram and Houle, who recorded a big two-out, two-run base hit.
Hope rallied for four in the third to cut the lead to 6-4, but an eight-run fifth by the Cougars left no doubt about the outcome. With one out, Poston doubled, Kimi Villalpando drew a walk, and Sarah Quiambao reached on a fielder's choice that Hope couldn't get an out on. Rodriguez plated the inning's first run with a base hit up the middle, Derrisha Lacey singled to score another, and an Ingram fielder's choice scored another. After a run scored on an error, Miller continued her big day with a two-run single, and Dronenburg capped everything off with her second home run of the day, a two run shot to left.
CSUSM will begin its defense of its A.I.I. Conference Championship at home this Thursday. Information on the tournament, which CSUSM is hosting, can be found online at www.csusmcougars.com/aiisoftball.
