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ANDREA KENNEY POST-TOURNAMENT REMARKS


STOCKTON, Calif. — The No. 6 Cal State Monterey Bay softball team came ever so close to making history Sunday afternoon at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Softball Championship Tournament in Arnaiz Stadium. But six proved to be UC San Diego's lucky number as the Tritons beat CSUMB for the first time in six tries this season, 4–1, to win the tournament.

CSUMB (45–12 overall) earned its berth in the title game after dispatching UCSD (35–19) 9–5 in Sunday's opening game. Despite the title game setback, CSUMB is in tremendous position to host one of the two west subregionals and possibly earn the region's No. 1 seed.  UCSD, which entered the tournament on the bubble as the No. 7 team in the region, earns the CCAA automatic bid to the regionals.

After battling back from an opening round loss, the Otters were three innings away from becoming the first team in CCAA softball history to win both the CCAA softball regular season and tournament championships. But UCSD overcame a 1–0 Otter lead and the generally solid pitching of sophomore Kylie Linnane (Salinas/Notre Dame HS), scoring three times with the help of two errors in the fifth inning.

That proved to be enough support for tournament MVP Camille Gaito, who threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings after yielding an RBI triple to Jackie Serna (Corona HS) in the first.

That RBI was the 11th of the weekend for Serna, who broke the CCAA Tournament record of eight set by Sonoma State's Ashley Britton in 2009. Serna also set the tournament record for walks with five, eclipsing the previous best of four by Jennifer DeFazio of UCSD (2011) and Shae Olds (2009).

Joining Serna in the record–breaking category was freshman P/DP Cori Reinhardt (Riverside Poly) who tossed a record four complete games and a record two shutouts in a record 28 innings.

Serna and Reinhardt were but two of five Otters named to the CCAA All–Tournament team. Outfielders Jamie Moon (Torrance HS) and Angelina Orozco (Clovis East HS) and first baseman Nina Villanueva (San Diego/Mt. Carmel HS) also picked up all–tourney nods.

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Cal State Monterey Bay 9, UC San Diego 5
CSUMB earned its berth in the title game with a 9–5 victory over UCSD in Sunday's first game. Jackie Serna recorded the second five–RBI game of her career while Cori Reinhardt drove in the other four to power the Otters to victory.

Things appeared a bit dicey for CSUMB early as the Otters gifted the Tritons three first inning runs with a lone infield single the Triton contribution to that burst. But Reinhardt doubled home Jamie Moon in the second to open the CSUMB ledger before Serna's two–run double highlighted a three–run third that put the Otters on top 4–3.

Serna drew a bases–loaded walk in the and Reinhardt added a two–run single in the fourth to put CSUMB ahead to stay. Serna added a pair of insurance runs with a two–run single off Camille Gaito in the fifth.

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All–CCAA Tournament Team
Caitlin Brown (UC San Diego); Camille Gaito (UC San Diego); Stephanie Jimenez (Cal State Dominguez Hills); Emily McQuaid (UC San Diego); Jamie Moon (Cal State Monterey Bay); Angelina Orozco (Cal State Monterey Bay); Cori Reinhardt (Cal State Monterey Bay); Jackie Serna (Cal State Monterey Bay); Nicole Spangler (UC San Diego); Hailey Stockman (Chico State); Charly Swanberg (UC San Diego); Nina Villanueva (Cal State Monterey Bay).  Most Outstanding Player: Camille Gaito (UC San Diego)