BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 | BOX SCORE 3 #16 Sonoma State 8, Hawai'i Pacific 5 (8 innings) -- Box Score
#16 Sonoma State 7, Cal State Stanislaus 5 (9 innings) -- Box Score
#16 Sonoma State 2, Notre Dame de Namur 1 -- Box Score

TURLOCK, Calif. -- Ali Palermo went 8 for 12 with a home run, six RBI and two runs scored and Samantha Lipperd earned a pair of victories with 13 strikeouts in 13 innings of work as the Sonoma State softball team went a perfect 3-0, two of the wins coming in extra innings, on opening day of the 12th Annual Tournament of Champions, presented by Mizuno, on Friday in Turlock.  The Seawolves (29-8) have now won 10 straight games and 17 of their last 18.

Hayley Condon brought home the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning in the 8-5 win over Hawai'i Pacific, Palermo connected on a walkoff, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Cal State Stanislaus, 7-5, and Ancia Purdy scored from first base on a dropped fly ball in the outfield off of the bat of Danielle D'Eccliss in the seventh to beat Notre Dame de Namur, 2-1.

Sonoma State will play two more games in pool play, both on Saturday, against Simon Fraser at 9:00 a.m. and Western Oregon at 11:15 a.m.  The Seawolves' standing after five pool play games will determine which bracket they will play in on Sunday.  They will be shooting for the Gold Bracket -- the top bracket of the tournament -- to contend for their second TOC title in four years; Sonoma captured the tourney title back in 2010 and won the Platinum Bracket last year.

#16 Sonoma State 8, Hawai'i Pacific 5 (8 innings) -- Box Score

Almost immediately, the Seawolves took a 1-0 lead when Palermo flew out to center field, scoring Purdy from third base on a sacrifice fly.  Sonoma threatened for more when Holli Brown doubled to put her and Vanessa Currie in scoring position, but with two outs, Hawai'i Pacific was able to get out of the inning after getting Megan Konieczka to ground out. 

The Sea Warriors knotted the game up at one apiece when Caira Pires delivered a moonshot to right center field in the bottom of the second inning, but it wouldn't last long as the Seawolves responded with three runs in their half of the third.  Purdy scored on a throwing error before Palermo singled up the middle to plate Currie and D'Eccliss for the 4-1 lead.  Another SSU run came across the plate in its next at bat in the on a Currie sacrifice fly, scoring Olivia Lucchese to give Sonoma a 5-1 advantage.

However, in the bottom of the fifth, Hawai'i Pacific cut its deficit in half when Sharae Esprecion doubled home a pair of runs on the first pitch she saw from Lipperd.

In the sixth, the Sea Warriors got even once again on back-to-back RBI base hits by Nicole Morrow and Pires, but this time, it was off of Katy Bihl, who took over for Lipperd in the fifth.

Nothing came across for either team in the seventh, so the international tiebreaker went into effect at the top of the eighth inning, which placed Konieczka on second base.  On the second pitch of the inning, she scored on Condon's single down the left field line to put SSU on top 6-5.  D'Eccliss and Currie then came up with back-to-back RBI base hits of their own, to increase the Seawolf lead to 8-5.

Lipperd came back in for Bihl at the top of the seventh and retired the final six batters she faced, including the three in the bottom of the eighth to earn her 16th victory of the season.  In all, Lipperd worked six innings, allowing five hits and three runs, walking six, but striking out eight.  In two innings of work, Bihl gave up two runs on three hits, fanning one.

Offensively, Purdy went a perfect 4 for 4 with two runs scored, Palermo recorded two hits and three RBI and Condon also hit safely twice for an RBI and a run scored.  In total, the Seawolves tallied 12 hits.

Hawai'i Pacific's Melissa Kirby (5-7) was tagged with the loss, pitching the final six innings after Alysia Maddison tossed the first two.  The Sea Warriors recorded eight hits with two each coming off the bats of Morrow and Pires.

#16 Sonoma State 7, Cal State Stanislaus 5 (9 innings) -- Box Score

After battling for two hours and 40 minutes just moments before the first pitch against Cal State Stanislaus, Sonoma State would soon find itself in another grueling contest that stretched into extra innings.

Bihl got the start in the circle for the Seawolves -- her first of the season -- but gave up a two-run home run to Sarah Locarnini in the top of the first inning, and without getting an out, Bihl was replaced by Amanda Llerena.

SSU got a run back in its half of the first on an RBI single by Palermo, the first of five hits for Palermo in the game.

In the Seawolf fourth, Condon delivered an RBI single with the bases loaded to tie the game a 2-2, but the Warriors would get out of the inning, despite the bases being loaded and just one out.  The bats would come back out for Sonoma in the fifth, as the home team on the scoreboard took a 5-2 lead on an RBI single by Brown and a two-RBI single by Condon.

Cal State Stanislaus rallied with one out in the top of the seventh, plating three runs and even threatened for more with the bases loaded, but Llerena worked herself out of the jam and kept the Seawolves tied at 5-5.

It wasn't until the bottom of the ninth inning that Sonoma State finally ended a two-hour, 50-minute marathon on one swing of the bat by Palermo, who blasted her team-high ninth homer of the season, scoring D'Eccliss for the 7-5 win.

Llerena improved to 12-5 this season, allowing three runs on five hits; she also walked three and struckout 10, amidst 155 pitches.  As mentioned above, Palermo finished going 5 for 5 at the plate with the walkoff home run, three RBI and two runs scored.  Brown and Condon added a pair of hits apiece as the Seawolves recorded 10 hits in the game -- Condon also had three RBI.

Brittani Weatherford (5-8) suffered the loss, working eight and a thirds innings, giving up nine hits and six runs (four earned), walking four and striking out six.  She also helped her cause at the plate, going 3 for 4 with two runs scored.

#16 Sonoma State 2, Notre Dame de Namur 1 -- Box Score

The offense continued for the Seawolves in their third game of the day when Currie sent a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Purdy for the 1-0 lead.  However, the bats would fall dormant against Notre Dame de Namur pitcher Sammy McConvey the rest of the way. 

Meanwhile, the Argonauts tied the game up at 1-1 in the third inning on a throwing error by Lipperd, but both offenses dried up after that.

In danger of going to extra innings for the third straight game, Sonoma State was able to plate the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.  Purdy singled with two outs before D'Eccliss hit a ball to right field.  The ball hung in the air long enough for Sylia Honne to run back and make the third out of the inning, but the ball would pop in and out of her glove, bouncing far enough away from the right fielder for Purdy to sprint around the bases and score the game-winner.

With six total hits in the contest, six different Seawolves recorded a hit, including a double by D'Eccliss in the third.  In the circle, Lipperd improved to 17-3 this season, scattering just three hits and giving up one unearned run, striking out five.