CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 2, CENTRAL WASHINGTON 0
WP - Cori REINHARDT (14-3) • LP - Maria GAU (10-6) • Sv- None | | TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | -- | R | H | E | | No. 15 CSUMB (34-5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -- | 2 | 8 | 2 | | Central Wash. (19-14) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | 1 |
2 out, 2 runners on when winning run scored | | TOP PERFORMERS | CSUMB: Cori Reinhardt (No-hitter, 3K, BB); Anneliese Lopez 1x4, 2B); Bianca Noriega (2x4, RBI).
CWU: Maria Gau (7IP, 7K). |
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CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 5, CHICO STATE 2
WP - Lindsey CLARKSON (19-2) • LP - Alex MOLINA (9-9) • Sv- None | | TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | -- | R | H | E | | CHICO (20-18) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | 2 | 3 | 3 | | No. 15 CSUMB (35-5) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | x | -- | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| | TOP PERFORMERS | CSUMB: Cori Reinhardt (1x3, 2B, SB, 3 RBI); Anneliese Lopez (2x2, 2B, RBI); Brianne Hollon (1x2, 3B, run).
CHICO: Gabby Palmer (1x3, 2B, 2 RBI); Emily McEnaney (1x2, 2B). |
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TURLOCK, Calif. -- A record-setting day ended with the No. 15 Cal State Monterey Bay softball team as the last team standing at the Tournament of Champions presented by the Turlock Convention and Visitor's Bureau at Pedretti Park.
Through a quirk in the tournament rules, the Otters played in the Silver Bracket instead of the top Gold Bracket. Nevertheless, CSUMB defeated Central Washington 2-0 and Chico State 5-2 to finish as the only undefeated team in the 24-team field at 7-0.
CSUMB (35-5 overall) ran its team-record winning streak to 17 games. In so doing, the Otters broke the CSUMB record for longest winning streak in any sport, passing the 16-game streak set by the CCAA Champion women's basketball team in 2011.
The Otters also improved to 40-16 all-time in Tournament of Champions play, the best record by any team in tournament history.
Individually, junior
Cori Reinhardt (Riverside Poly) broke Jessica Boyle's CSUMB career record with her 49th victory in the opener versus Central Washington. She not only broke Boyle's mark, she did it in spectacular fashion, tossing the first no-hitter of her career. It was just the third no-hitter in TOC history and the first since Sonoma State's Samantha Lipperd turned the trick against Hawaii Pacific in 2012.
Despite Reinhardt's gem, it was teammate
Lindsey Clarkson (Fresno/Central HS) took home tournament most outstanding pitcher honors with her fifth victory of the tournament in the title game versus Chico State. Reinhardt's effort's didn't go unrecognized, however, as she also earned all-tournament honors.
The win over Central Washington began as a pitcher's duel between Reinhardt and CWU's Maria Gau. Gau fanned seven Otters, but she had to work hard for every out. By the time the Otters broke through in the fifth, Gau had thrown more than 120 pitches to fewer than 50 by Reinhardt.
The Otters threatened constantly, leaving five runners in scoring position from the second through fourth innings before finally getting on the board in the fifth. Reinhardt played an integral role in the breakthrough.
With two outs and
Courtney Varela (Harbor City/Torrance HS) on second, the Wildcats elected to intentionally walk Reinhardt to face cleanup hitter
Bianca Noriega (Ventura/Camarillo HS). Noriega made them pay for that decision, lining a single off the glove of diving second baseman Jill McDaniels and into right field to bring home Varela.
The Otters added an insurance run in the sixth on
Danica Arterburn's (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs HS) RBI single. From there, Reinhardt just needed to pitch around a 1-out error in the sixth to complete the no-no.
Anneliese Lopez (Ventura/Buena HS) staked the Otters to an early lead against Chico, following leadoff walk in the second inning and a sacrifice with a double to the gap in right center. With Clarkson on a run of 51 2/3 scoreless innings, that figured to be enough.
Clarkson eventually ran her school record to 55 1/3 innings before the Wildcats finally found a chink in her armor. A pair of leadoff walks and a sacrifice bunt put Chico runners on second and third. Clarkson coaxed a first-pitch pop-up Courtney Brown to bring up .188-hitting designated player Gabby Palmer.
Palmer came up big, however, lifting a double over Arterburn in left to give Chico a 2-1 advantage.
The Otters responded in their half of the sixth, thanks to a bit of good fortune. A walk, a sacrifice and a Chico throwing error put Otters on the corners with one out. Arterburn followed with a sharp grounder to second that Kelli Keefe bobbled before recovering in time to gun down Lopez at the plate.
Varela drew a full-count walk to load the bases for pinch-hitter
Jenae Coleman (Castaic/Hart HS), who also worked a full count. Chico pitcher Alex Molina made the pitch she needed to get out of the inning, but Coleman fought it off, hitting a short, cue shot just out of the reach of a diving Brown at third base. The spin and Brown's deflection combined to prevent any other play on the ball as Coleman beat out the infield hit and pinch runner
Katie Denio (Tustin/Santiago Canyon College) race home with the tying run.
With the bases still juiced, Reinhardt sealed Clarkson's 19th win of the season with a bases-clearing double to left-center.
CSUMB returns home to, coincidentally, host Chico State in a 4-game series Friday and Saturday at the Otter Sports Complex.
GO OTTERS!
