SEASIDE, Calif. -- After an 8-0 loss in five innings in the opener, the Sonoma State softball team rebounded with an 11-3 win in five innings in the series finale with host Cal State Monterey Bay at the Otter Sports Complex in Seaside on Sunday. The Seawolves move to 5-4 overall and earn their first win on conference play, rising to 1-3 in the CCAA. The Otters, meanwhile, sit at 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the CCAA.
In the first game on Sunday, Cal State Monterey Bay didn't waste any time putting runs on the board, posting five runs in the bottom of the first inning off of SSU starting pitcher
Brigid Ruiz (1-2), though just one of the five runs would end up being earned. Another three Otter runs came across the plate in the fourth inning to take the 8-0 lead and eventual win by way of the eight-run mercy rule.
Otter pitcher Hayley Fein (3-1) tossed a two-hit shutout, giving up hits to
Sarah Langley and
Alex Flores.
In the fourth and final game of the four-game series, the Seawolves gave the Otters a taste of their own medicine, plating five runs in the top of the first, one more in the third and five more in the fifth while SSU hurler
Teresa Danenberg (1-1) quieted the CSUMB bats for the most part, allowing three runs on five hits and one walk, striking out five for her first collegiate win.
The five-run first inning got started when
Madison Barto singled up the middle to score
Jenny Collazo and Lindsey Calcany-Blair. Three batters later,
Jenn Amaral delivered a bases-clearing double to put SSU up 5-0 before CSUMB came to bat. In the third, Langley blasted a solo home run to right center field for a 6-1 lead before Cal State Monterey Bay cut the Seawolf lead in half when the Otters came to bat next, thanks to a two-run homer to straight away center field, making it 6-3 in favor of the visitors.
In the fifth inning, Langley again came up big, singling home two runs before
Karly Macadangdang brought home two more runs for the 10-3 lead. Flores then recorded a sacrifice fly to score Macadangdang for the 11-3 advantage.
Facing the eight-run mercy rule, the Otters couldn't get anything going offensively in the bottom of the fifth as Danenberg shut down the hosts in order to end the game.
Collazo, Langley, Macadangdang and
Jordann White all had two hits each, accounting for eight of the 11 Sonoma hits in the nightcap.
Sonoma State will head to Carson next weekend to battle with Cal State Dominguez Hills for four games Friday and Saturday before returning to Rohnert Park for its home opener on Friday, Feb.24th against Stanislaus State.