TURLOCK, Calif. – The Sonoma State Seawolves proved unable to find a win on day one of the 2018 Tournament of Champions, pulling a scoreless tie to the final inning in their 3:00 pm matchup with Academy of Art before falling to Chaminade on a pair of big innings by the Silverswords.
Academy of Art 3, Sonoma State 0
Brigid Ruiz put in a strong pitching performance in the Seawolves' opening game of their weekend Turlock. The senior righthander went seven complete innings, shutting out her opponent over the first six, while giving up just one earned run on the day.
That one earned run came in Academy of Art's three run seventh inning, which clinched the late-inning win for the Urban Knights. Gracie Sotomayor turned on the first ball she saw, leading off the inning with a single up the middle. Two batters later Alyssa Brundage then reached on a fielding error by third baseman
Jenn Amaral, which also advanced Sotomayor to second. Pinch hitter Lauryn Henderson then came up with a clutch double down the right field line, driving in the games' first run. A lineout to short followed, which should have proved to be the final out of the inning, however a single to short and a double steal attempt saw two more unearned runs cross the plate, leaving the Seawolves with a three run deficit to make up in the frame.
Unfortunately, Sonoma State was set down in order with three consecutive groundouts.
Chaminade 9, Sonoma State 2
Sonoma State's offense woke up for game two of Friday action, as the Seawolves plated the opening two runs of the game. However, a three-run third and six-run sixth by Chaminade proved their undoing as the Seawolves were outhit by 10-7.
The Seawolves opened the scoring in the top of the second as
Lindsey Calcany Blair reached base safely on a dropped fly ball by the left fielder. The two-base error allowed
Cameron Kirtlan to come all the way home from second on the play, giving the Seawolves a 1-0 advantage.
Sonoma State tacked another to the board in the top of the third as
Malory Masajlo, who replaced
Alex Flores as a pinch runner, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a bunt and then came in to score on a sac fly to left by
Alyssa Cuffia. Unfortunately, the Seawolves would leave two runners stranded at second and third at the end of the inning.
In the bottom of the third, Chaminade took the lead and never looked back. A one-out hit by pitch, followed by back-to-back doubles, netted the Silverswords two runs, pulling them even with the Seawolves at two. A wild pitch then allowed Chaminade's runner on second to advance 90 feet before coming home on an RBI single to left.
Things remained quiet over the following two innings before the Silverswords posted a six-run sixth, all with two outs. With two on and two out, Chaminade connected for four-straight two-strike hits, doubling twice and singling before Rainelle Matsuoka cleared the bases with a three-run home run.
A pair of Seawolves reached base safely in the top of the seventh but were left on the base paths as the Silverswords recorded the final two outs via swinging strikes.
With the pair of losses Sonoma State falls to 19-9 on the season before returning to action tomorrow in Turlock. The Seawolves will be taking on Concordia Irvine at 3:30 pm before kicking off a 7:00 pm night cap with Montana State Billings.
