TURLOCK, Calif. – Dominican women's softball (6-19) was swept on the second day of the Tournament of Champions, falling 5-4 to CSU San Marcos, and 13-1 to Western Washington University (20-9).
Game 1
McKenzie Schumacher led the Penguins in the first game going 2-for-3, with a walk and two of the Penguins' four runs. Senior
Karitza Reyes added a 2-for-4 day at the plate to help keep the Penguins in the hunt.
Caitlin Vinyard earned the win for the Cougars, improving her record to 5-5 on the year, allowing just two hits, one walk, and one run during her 3.1 innings pitched. Andrea Wood powered San Marcos' offense, going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
In the bottom of the first inning Schumacher led the Penguins off with a single and slid into second easily and advanced to third on the throw down that squirted into the outfield grass.
Haley Cheek reached on a squeeze bunt that brought Schumacher home for the 1-0 lead. Skie Munoz got out of the jam for CSUSM with a pair of pop ups with the bases loaded to limit the damage.
Both offenses were held in check over the next two innings until Ellie Smith broke the game open for the Cougars with a bases-clearing double to left center in the top of the fourth to give them a 4-1 lead. The Penguins retaliated in the bottom half of the inning as Mott drilled a lead-off single up the middle. Chinchilla kept the momentum rolling, taking a 2-2 pitch to the right-center fence to bring in Mott and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Keely Bowlan pinch-ran for Chinchilla, and advanced to third on a wild pitch from Munoz.
Mady Christensen stepped to the plate with two outs and continued her clutch hitting this season with a single through the middle on the first pitch of the at-bat to cut the deficit to one.
San Marcos rallied once more in the top of the fifth inning as Ronni Silas singled up the middle, and advanced to third on a ground out from Melody Forstie and a wild pitch during Wood's at-bat. On a full count, Wood singled up the middle to extend the lead back to two at 5-3.
The Penguins held the Cougars scoreless for the rest of the game to keep within striking distance. Schumacher beat out a grounder to the shortstop for an infield single and made her way to third on a stolen base and came home on a pair of groundouts to bring Dominican back within one. Vinyard retired the final batter to get out with the win.
Game 2
Dominican's offense was held to just four hits against the Vikings. Cheek continued her strong performance in the Tournament of Champions, going 1-for-2 with a walk.
Western Washington's Emily Benson fueled the Viking's offense going 5-for-5 with seven RBI and accounting for three runs. Seli Aholelei also had a strong performance, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and came across to score twice. Shearyna Labasan earned the win from the circle.
Christensen reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the first to get the Penguins off to a strong start. Schumacher moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt and Christensen advanced to third on a wild pitch. Reyes laid a squeeze bunt down the first baseline to allow Christensen time to slide into home safely and give the Penguins a 1-0 advantage.
In the top of the third inning, the Vikings evened the score with back-to-back doubles to left field by Aholelei and Benson.
Alyssa Waltman escaped the 2-out rally by forcing Paityn Cyr to dribble out to
Dahlen Dennis at third for the final out of the inning.
The Vikings returned in the top of the fifth to score three more runs off three straight singles through the infield from Aholelei, Benson and Cyr to extend the lead to 4-1. Labasan singled to left field with two runners on in the top of the sixth to keep the momentum rolling for Western Washington. With two outs, Bensen homered to straight-away center to extend Western Washington's lead to 8-1.
The Vikings tacked on five more runs in the top half of the seventh as they ran away with the game.
The Penguins return to the Pedretti Sports Complex tomorrow morning to take on San Francisco State at 11:30 a.m. PDT. Live video and stats will be available online.
