BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 GAME 1: Sonoma State 4, Chico State 0 -- Box Score
GAME 2: Sonoma State 9, Chico State 1 -- Box Score

CHICO, Calif. -- Amanda Llerena had yet another brilliant outing, not just in one game, but in two, and the Sonoma State offense backed her up with 13 runs and 21 hits en route to a doubleheader sweep of Chico State with scores of 4-0 and 9-1 on Saturday in Chico.  The Seawolves (33-17) regain their spot at fourth place in the CCAA standings with a 17-15 record in conference, one game ahead of both Chico State (16-16) and Cal State San Bernardino (16-16) and two games ahead of Cal State East Bay (15-17) with just four games remaining in the regular season.

Three spots in the four-team CCAA tournament have been secured by Cal State Monterey Bay (22-6), Humboldt State (25-7) and UC San Diego (19-9) by virtue of winning percentage; therefore, the fourth and final spot will be fought for by four teams separated by just two games.  Sonoma State, which was ranked sixth in the first official NCAA Division II West Regional poll released Wednesday, will end the regular season with four games at San Francisco State on Friday (1:00 pm) and Saturday (12:00 pm).

In the opener on Saturday, Llerena was simply impressive, allowing just four base runners in her complete-game winning effort.  In fact, she retired the final 15 batters that came to the plate in the contest.  She gave up just two hits -- an infield single in the first inning and a single to center field in the third -- and didn't allow a walk while striking out nine Wildcat hitters.

The Seawolf offense gave her a couple of runs in the second inning on an RBI triple by Alison Strycula and a sacrifice fly by Holli Brown.  Two more runs came across the plate in the sixth inning on the same error with the bases loaded, which eventually became the final score of 4-0.

Chico State's Alex Molina (11-11) went the distance as well and gave up only six hits, two off the bat of Strycula.

Needing a sweep on Saturday to retake fourth place from the Wildcats, the Seawolves again elected to go with Llerena, and again, Chico had no answer.  The sophomore right-hander allowed just four hits in five innings of shutout ball, striking out three before giving way to Katy Bihl in the sixth.

Not only did Llerena continue her momentum into the series finale, but so did the Sonoma State offense, pounding out 15 hits, including three each from Megan Konieczka and Strycula and two apiece from Ancia Purdy, Amanda Rossetta and Aubrie Tolliver.  Strycula put the Seawolves on the board with an RBI single in the top of the first, then brought in run number two on a bunt single in the third inning.  Rossetta followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0 in favor of SSU.

The Seawolves broke it wide open in the fourth inning with three runs by way of a bases-loaded wild pitch, another RBI single by Strycula and a sacrifice fly by Rossetta for the 6-0 advantage.  In the sixth inning, Tolliver delivered a two-run home run to center field for the eight-run lead, but before Sonoma State could end the game by virtue of the eight-run mercy rule, Chico State pushed a run home in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-1.  For good measure, the Seawolves scored another run in the top of the seventh on a successful first-and-third double steal with Konieczka swiping second and Condon taking home.

The Wildcats didn't go down without a fight, however, as Bihl gave up three consecutive singles to open the bottom of the seventh, but the Seawolf defense came up big, getting the force out at home twice, then ended the game with Brown snagging a line drive out of the air for the final out of the series.

Sonoma State is looking to qualify for the CCAA Championship Tournament for the fifth time in six seasons; this year's conference tournament returns to Arnaiz Stadium in Stockton in two weeks (May 2-4).  The Seawolves will need to take care of business next weekend, though, against San Francisco State in San Francisco.