SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The No. 11 Cal State San Marcos softball team split its Friday afternoon doubleheader with NCAA Division II opponent Azusa Pacific, falling 8-5 before holding on for an 8-7 victory in game two at CSUSM Softball Field.
The Cougars move to 31-12 overall heading into their final doubleheader of the regular season tomorrow at noon against Antelope Valley. APU leaves San Marcos with a 25-22 overall mark.
Game 1Naomi Amu's third grand slam of the season tied the game at 5-5 in the third inning following an early 5-0 deficit, but three unanswered runs by APU highlighted by Madison Hernandez's two-run homerun in the sixth led the visitors to an 8-5 victory.
Kayla Jimenez put APU on the board in its first at-bat with a two-run single down the right field line.
CSUSM starter
Ashley Dagenais (14-7) walked a pair and hit a batter to load the bases in the second inning and APU made her pay with back-to-back hits that resulted in three more runs.
Sarah Quiambao led off with a single in second before consecutive two-out base hits from
Caylyn Rodriguez and
Holly Fauria loaded the bases for CSUSM. Quiambao then scored on a wild pitch by Anneliese Davis for the Cougars' first run of the day.
After a walk to
Olivia Lucatuorto, Amu lined a no-doubt grand slam over the left-field wall to knot it, 5-5; it was her 17
th homerun of the season and fifth in her last six games.
APU was again able to load the bases in the fourth and Hernandez made it 6-5 with a single through the left side.
CSUSM attempted to answer in its turn at the dish, as Quiambao walked and
Devin Vanderhoff singled to put runners on first and second with one out.
Karla Bernal moved them into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but Narissa Garcia (13-8) forced Rodriguez to pop-out to the catcher to end the threat.
After Hernandez's two-run shot in the sixth, CSUSM went down in order in its final two at-bats.
Game 2CSUSM scored three in the first, five in the second, and then held on for dear life to squeak out a one-run win in game two.
Hernandez continued to be a thorn in CSUSM's side as she doubled home Illiana Jimenez to put APU on the board in its first at-bat.
CSUSM scored a pair when the APU shortstop couldn't handle
Robyn Alvara's ground ball in the bottom half of the first. Quiambao made it 3-1 with an RBI single up the middle that scored Alvara.
A two-out rally propelled by two key APU errors helped CSUSM grab an 8-1 lead in the second.
After Lucatuorto walked to load the bases, APU starter Carly Xepoleas (10-9) was pulled for Destinee Levesque.
Despite the change, Amu sent a two-run single down the right field line to make it 5-1. Alvara followed with an RBI single that scored Lucatuorto, and Amu came home when the third-baseman's throw behind Alvara went into foul territory.
Brogan Hoenisch then lined a RBI double to right center to hand CSUSM a seven-run lead.
APU slowly began to chip away scoring a run in each of the next three innings to make it 8-4.
Amu (3-2), who started game two in the circle for CSUSM, was done after striking out four in five innings of work.
Reliever
Katie Wilkinson got off to a rocky start in the sixth after taking over for Amu. She walked the first batter she faced, who eventually scored on an infield single to the shortstop.
Nikki Sprague then tagged her for a two-run homerun that made it 8-7. However, Wilkinson got Hernandez to line out to end the frame.
In the seventh, Wilkinson quickly retired the first two batters before Abry Moreno singled down the right field line to put the tying run aboard. Janelle Eccles pinch-hit for Katrina Oviedo, but Wilkinson got Eccles to ground out softly to second to end the game.
