Courtney Varela drove in the game-winning run with a 2-out, RBI single in the fifth inning Friday afternoon.
BOX SCORE CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 2, CAL ST. SAN BERN 1
WP - Cori Reinhardt (17-5) • LP - Cassandraw Williams (15-12)
Sv- None | | TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | -- | R | H | E | | CSUSB (29-22, 16-17 CCAA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 1 | 6 | 1 | | No. 3 CSUMB (42-7, 23-6 CCAA) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | x | -- | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| | TOP PERFORMERS | CSUMB: Courtney Varela 1x3, GWRBI; Bianca Noriega (2x3).
CSUSB: Thalia Ortiz (2x4); Darian Manuz (1x3, RBI). |
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SEASIDE, Calif. -- The No. 3 Cal State Monterey Bay softball team inched closer to its third CCAA title Friday by defeating Cal State San Bernardino 2–1 at the Otter Sports Complex. Rain halted CSUMB's march to the crown, however, wiping out the second game of the scheduled doubleheader.
CSUMB improved to 42–7 overall and 23–6 in the CCAA. Humboldt State (41–11, 25–7) had its doubleheader at Cal State Stanislaus pushed back a day and will play doubleheader in Turlock on Saturday and Sunday.
The Otters struggled to make solid contact against San Bernardino starter Cassandra Williams, with only a 208–foot fly out by Nicole Pires (Ontario/Colony HS) in the sixth inning hit with any authority. But Williams had trouble throwing strikes throughout the game, and that ultimately proved to be her undoing.
After San Bernardino scratched out the game's first run on a weakly–hit 2–out single in the second inning, CSUMB manufactured a run of its own on a pair of walks and a double steal in the fourth inning, with Cori Reinhardt (Riverside Poly) and Danica Arterburn (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs HS) doing the damage on the bases.
The game–winner came in the following inning when Courtney Varela's (Harbor City/Torrance HS) 2–out blooper to right center barely evaded a diving Alyssa Ramos to score Alissa Greenhaw (Galt/Cosumnes River College) from second base.
Reinhardt, meanwhile, kept the Coyotes off the board after the second inning. She pitched out of a little trouble late, skirting a 2–on, no–outs jam in the sixth inning and a 1–out single in the seventh to secure her 17th win of the season.
CSUMB and San Bernardino will conclude their truncated series with a doubleheader Saturday at the Otter Sports Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.
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GO OTTERS!
