TURLOCK, Calif. – Dominican women's softball erased a 5-run deficit with all six of their runs in the final two innings to win 6-5 over San Francisco State University on Sunday afternoon at Pedretti Sports Complex.
In the bottom of the seventh inning and the Penguins down by one run, senior first baseman
Haley Cheek reached on an error by the shortstop and freshman outfielder
Peyton Mott singled on a hard line drive through the right side of the infield. Senior catcher
Alexis Chinchilla reached on another error by the shortstop to load the bases with one out. During a lengthy discussion on some roster changes, the Gators' pitcher Karla Soto took five unauthorized warmup pitches resulting in a walk for senior infielder
Dahlen Dennis to bring home Cheek for the 5-5 tie. Junior pitcher
Lauren Persi stepped to the plate starting with one ball due to the unauthorized pitches and roped a full-count pitch up the middle to bring in Mott for the walk-off victory as the Penguins rushed the field in celebration.
Along with the walk-off hit, Persi also earned the win in the circle, allowing one earned run in four innings. Dominican's junior infielder
Mady Christensen rounded out her .375 performance at the Turlock Tournament going 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks. Mott collected two hits and accounted for two runs for the Penguins. Cheek finished the game going 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Leadoff hitter Brylynn Vallejos led the Gators with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, with two RBI and one run. Andrea Hildan and Triniti Scruggs each added two hits with an RBI from Hildan.
The Gators opened the scoring after Hayley Nunes double down the right-field line in the top of the second inning on a 3-1 count and advanced on a ball in the dirt. Lehua DeLeon singled through the left side to bring her home for the 1-0 advantage. With two on and two outs, Vallejos crushed a ball through the infield and into left center to clear the bases to make it 3-0. The Gators kept the momentum rolling as Hildan singled up the middle to bring around Vallejos for the 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.
After three scoreless inning, the Gators tacked on another run as Kylee Brown singled up the middle to allow Scruggs to cross the plate to make it 5-0 for SFSU.
Dominican's bats finally came alive in the bottom of the sixth as Chinchilla singled up the middle to load the bases. Dennis hit a bouncer just inside the third base line, hoping over the glove of the third baseman to score Cheek and Mott. The third baseman then misplayed a ground ball from Persi to load the bases once more with Christensen due up. Gator pitcher Natalie Minteer steered clear of the strike zone in an attempt to force Christensen to chase out of the zone, but Christensen did not bite and drew a walk on four straight pitches to bring across Chinchilla and cut the deficit to two.
Soto returned to the game to relieve Minteer, but was unable to stop the bleeding as
McKenzie Schumacher drew a walk on a 3-2 count to bring Dominican within a run of the Gators entering the final inning.
The Penguins will look to add to their win column this Friday against Holy Names University, with first pitch of the double header at noon PDT. Live stats will be available online.
