SEASIDE, Calif. — Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State beat each other up Friday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader that allowed Humboldt State to take sole possession of first place in the CCAA. CSUMB won Game 1 3-1 and Sonoma State won Game 2 13-1 while Humboldt was busy completing a 4-game sweep of Cal State Dominguez Hills with a pair of wins in Arcata.

HSU is now 18-6 in CCAA play, leading Sonoma (15-6) by 1 1/2 games and the Otters (15-7) by two pending the outcome of tomorrow's doubleheader between the Otters and Seawolves.

Friday afternoon, Cori Reinhardt (Riverside Poly) pitched around some hard luck, allowing just one unearned run while improving to 18-2 in the opener. Her game was the antithesis of the one pitched by SSU's Amanda Llerna, who made just one costly mistake to pick up her seventh loss of the season.

Sophomore Jenae Coleman (Castaic/Hart HS) cashed in Llerena's mistake by hitting a 3-run, pinch-hit home run to left center field to provide the entirety of the Otter offense in the opener. Llerna allowed just one hit over the final 3 2/3 innings, but the damage had been done.

Reinhardt, meanwhile, was the victim of a dropped fly ball leading off the second inning. Olivia Lucchese cashed that mistake in with a 1-out double to give the Seawolves the early lead.

But Lucchese's rocket to dead center proved to be one of the few well-hit balls Sonoma would manage against the 3-time All-American. The Seawolves got base runners—they eventually stranded 10 runner in the game—but never came up with the big hit that would get them back in the game.

As has been the case in big games this season, Llerena also got the nod in the nightcap. This time, the Otter were the ones who couldn't cash in their chances as CSUMB stranded 10 runners through five innings, managing to score just once with a first inning double steal.

Sonoma, however, was a model of efficiency, seemingly cashing in on every opportunity it created. The Seawolves needed just 12 hits tocreate their 13 runs while leaving just two runner on base in the game

A vicious sun, which created at least four doubles when the center fielders for both teams couldn't find the ball, got the Seawolf offense rolling in the first inning of the nightcap

Amanda Rossetta hit the first of those, a 2-out blooper to shallow right center that Otter sophomore Anneliese Lopez never saw off the bat. That sent Keeley Ray to third and kept the inning alive for Taylor Batey, who hammered the second pitch she saw over the fence in center for her seventh homer of the season to stake Sonoma to an early 3-0 lead.

The Otters got one back in the bottom of the first when Alissa Greenhaw (Galt/Cosumnes River College) hit one to the warning track in right center that SSU's Alison Strycula lost in the sun. Greenhaw eventually scored when she executed a double steal with Bianca Noriega (Ventura/Camarillo HS).

CSUMB had a chance to break the game open in its next at bat when Coleman pinch it with the bases loaded. She hit a towering fly ball to right center that Strycula found this time, making the catch with her back to the fence as Coleman barely missed the grand slam that would have given the Otters the lead.

With Clarkson striking out five of the first six Seawolves she faced, it looked like the game was going to settle into another pitcher's duel. But things quickly fell apart from CSUMB's perspective. Batey's 2–RBI single highlighted a five run Sonoma third. Home runs by Rossetta and Holli Brown tacked on five more in the fourth and the game was, for all intents and purposes, a fait accompli.