TURLOCK, Calif- After going 7-1 in the three-day Tournament of Champions, presented by Mizuno, and outscoring its opponents 66-15, the 14th-ranked Sonoma State softball team claimed the Gold Bracket Championship for the first time in the nine year history of the tournament on Sunday in Turlock following the 11-1 defeat of Central Washington.
Julianne Martinez was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and
Rochelle Vanyi and
Ashley Britton nabbed all-tournament honors. The Seawolves improve to 27-8 on the season.
#14 Sonoma State 11, Central Washington 1 (Championship)
Ali Palermo put the Seawolves up big in the first inning with a three-run home run to center field to take the 3-0 lead. Then, Vanyi had a two RBI single in the second, scoring
Janelle Arnold and
Brittany Martinez, putting Sonoma State up 5-0 early.
In the fifth, the Seawolves added five more runs to put the game out of reach. They added one more in the fifth after Central Washington put a run up on the board in the fourth, putting the scoreboard at the eventual final of 11-1 in five innings.
Britton had three hits in the contest with two runs scored and one RBI. Palermo and Vanyi had three RBI in the victory.
J. Martinez got the victory (13-4) after pitching five innings, giving up just three hits and one run. For the tournament, she went 4-0 with a save in 29 innings pitched, allowing just seven runs (three earned) for a 0.72 ERA in her six appearances. Martinez walked eight and struck out 16.
Vanyi led the team with a .520 batting average (13-for-25) in the seven games, hitting two home runs and 14 RBI. Britton with 15-for-31 (.484) with a home run and 13 RBI.
#14 Sonoma State 5, Dixie State 3 (Semifinal)
Sonoma State drew first blood with two runs in the third inning on RBI singles by Britton and Palermo. Dixie State cut the lead in half on a RBI ground rule double by Shantae Hunter in the bottom of the third.
The Seawolves added to the lead with a two RBI single to center field by Martinez, scoring Ledford and Brandalise for the 4-1 lead. In the sixth, Sonoma State added an insurance run on an RBI single by Stroud.
However, Dixie State made things interesting in the sixth, scoring two runs on three hits and had the bases loaded before Sonoma State got the third out of the inning. Martinez replaced
Samantha Lipperd in the seventh and retired three of the four Red Storm batters to take the 5-3 victory. Lipperd improved to 14-3 with the victory and Martinez got her second save of the season.
Stroud, Vanyi and Brandalise all had two hits while B. Martinez had the aforementioned two RBI.
#14 Sonoma State 10, Hawai'i-Hilo 2 (Quarterfinal)
In the opening game of the Gold Bracket, Sonoma State fell behind early, but scored nine unanswered runs, including eight in the top of the fifth inning to defeat Hawai'i-Hilo 10-2.
Palermo went a perfect 4-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored and Brandalise added two hits and two RBI for the Seawolves and Martinez pitched a complete game while giving up four hits, two runs (one earned) with three walks and two strikeouts.
