Bianca Noriega powered the Otter offense with two home runs in Friday's doubleheader.
BOX SCORE 1 |
BOX SCORE 2 CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 8, CAL ST. DOM. HILLS 4
WP - Lindsay CLARKSON (22-2) • LP - Jamie DURAN (9-17) • Sv- None | | TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | -- | R | H | E | | No. 2 CSUMB (36-6, 20-5 CCAA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -- | 8 | 11 | 2 | | CSUDH (15-30, 9-20 CCAA) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| | TOP PERFORMERS | CSUMB: Bianca Noriega (3x4, 2B, HR[4], 2 RBIs); Trina Solario (2x4, HR[1]);
Nicole Pires (1x23, HR[3}, 2 RBIs); Cori Reinhardt 1x4, HR[2]); Alissa
Greenhaw (2x4, 2B, 2 runs).
CSUDH: Adriana Sanchez (2x2, HR); Jasmine Ruiz (2x3, RBI). |
|
CAL ST. DOM. HILLS 7, CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 5
WP - Alicia PAIZ (3-7) • LP - Cori REINHARDT (15-5) • Sv- None | | TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | -- | R | H | E | | No. 2 CSUMB (39-7, 20-6 CCAA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -- | 5 | 9 | 0 | | CSUDH (16-30, 10-20 CCAA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | x | -- | 7 | 13 | 1 |
| | TOP PERFORMERS | CSUMB: Bianca Noriega (1x2, HR[5]); Danica Arterburn (2x3, HR[1], 2 runs,
RBIs); Courtney Varela 2x3, SB); Cori Reinhardt 2x4, RBI).
CSUDH: Jasmine Ruiz (3x4, HR, 2 runs, 3 RBIs); Veronica Vazquez (2x4, 2B,
run, RBI). |
|
CARSON, Calif. -- An unusual day brought unusual results in an unusual way as the No. 2 Cal State Monterey Bay softball team took sole possession of first place in the CCAA with a split at Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday afternoon at Toro Diamond.
CSUMB won the opener 8-4 behind a 4–home run barrage before dropping the nightcap, 7–5, despite hitting two more homers. CSUMB entered Friday's twinbill with just eight homers on the season.
Combined with Humboldt State's sweep of UC San Diego Friday in Arcata, the CSUMB (39–7, 20–6 CCAA) now holds a .002 lead over Humboldt State (39–11, 23–7) for first place. CSUMB's magic number verf Humboldt is six and over UCSD is five with six games remaining in the regular season.
Sophomore Bianca Noriega (Ventura/Camarillo HS) led the Otter power surge, hitting homers in both games while adding a double in the opener to finish the day 4–for–6. CSUMB also got long balls from Cori Reinhardt (Riverside Poly), Nicole Pires (Ontario/Colony HS) and the first collegiate home run from Trina Solario (Manteca/San Joaquin Delta College) in Game 1.
Danica Arterburn (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs HS) added her first collegiate home run in the seventh inning of Game 2.
As unusual as CSUMB's sudden burst of power was, its inability to handle the Toros hitters was even more perplexing. The 11 runs allowed were not only the most the Otters have given up in a doubleheader this season, they're the most they've allowed in a twinbill since Humboldt State scored 19 on Mar. 9, 2013, a span of 79 games.
The Otters won the opener the hard way. After back–to–back home runs from Noriega and Reinhardt stake them to a 2–0 lead in the third, a pair of errors opened the floodgates on a 4–run Toro third. But CSUMB scored in each of the final five innings while Lindsey Clarkson (Fresno/Central HS) came out of the pen to toss 4 2/3 innings of 1-hit relief to shut the door an earn her 22nd win of the season.
Noriega's second homer of the day led off the second inning of Game 2 and gave the Otters the first of what would be three leads in the game. But Dominguez Hills responded directly to each Otter score with single tallies in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings wrapped around a 3–run fourth.
CSUMB consistently put runners on base, but they made three outs running the bases—including the cardinal sin of making the third out at third base twice—to short circuit several potential rallies.
Down 7–3 in the seventh, Arterburn cashed in a walk to Alissa Greenhaw (Galt/Cosumnes River College) with a long ball to left to halve the deficit. Courtney Varela (Harbor City/Torrance HS) followed with an infield single and moved to second on a ground out, bringing Reinhardt to the plate with two outs as the potential tying run. Reinhardt hit a screamer to left that toro outfielder Jasmine Ruiz bobbled but secured to seal the upset.
The Otters and Toros will conclude their 4–game series with a doubleheader Saturday in Carson. CSUMB returns home to close the regular season against Cal State San Bernardino April 25–26 at the Otter Sports Complex.
GO OTTERS!
