TURLOCK, Calif. -- The No. 8 ranked Cal State Monterey Bay softball team returned to its winning ways and increased its lead in the CCAA race to a full two games with a doubleheader sweep of Stanislaus State Tuesday afternoon at Warrior Field.
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CSUMB (34-7, 22-6 CCAA) took the opener 8-0 in five innings before pulling out a 6-4 win in the nightcap.
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Freshman
Hayley Fein (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs HS) picked up both wins to improve to 21-6. She becomes just the third pitcher in CSUMB history to record 20 or more wins in a season (more below).
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Junior third baseman
Julia Garcia (Ventura College) hit a pair of mammoth home runsÂ--her 10th and 11th of the season--to lead the Otter offense in Game 1. Senior
Jenae Coleman (Castaic/Hart HS) came off the bench to go 3-for-3 with three RBIs and her fourth homer of the season to lead the way in Game 2.
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The Otters scored four times on just two hits in the day's first inning.
Sam Luna's (Salinas HS/MPC) RBI double was the big blow. Garcia added a solo shot in the third and a 2-run blast in the fourth to highlight the 7-hit attack.
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CSUMB had to work a bit harder in the nightcap after Stanislaus scored in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Coleman's 2-run double in the second and a run-scoring double by Garcia in the third put the Otters back on top, 3-1.
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A key 2-out error opened the door on a 3-run Stanislaus third as the Warriors  took their final lead of the day, 4-3. But sophomore catcher
Lusi Stanley (San Jose/Howard College) led off the fourth inning with her fourth homer of 2017.
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An RBI ground out by
Madison Casto (Sunnyvale/Homestead HS) put the Otters back on top later in the fourth before Coleman's 1-out shot to left center added the final insurance run.
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GAME 1 WAS OVER WHEN… Julia Garcia's second homer of the game made it 8-0 in the fourth inning. That was more than enough support for Fein and sophomore
Rosalia Keirns (Claremont HS). Only a fourth-inning bunt single by Nicolette Vizcaino spoiled their no-hit bid.
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GAME 2 WAS OVER WHEN… With Alexus Martinez on second, Ruby Quiralte lined softly to
Madison Casto for the game's final out.
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LEADING OFF… By pushing her record to 21-6,
Hayley Fein joins
Cori Reinhardt and
Lindsey Clarkson as the only players in Otter history to win 20-plus games in a season. Reinhardt did it three times, including her school-record 30-win season of 2015. Clarkson won 25 games in 2014.
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ON DECK… Julia Garcia became just the second player in Otter history to homer twice in a game three or more times Tuesday afternoon. Shea Olds owns the Otter record with four such game. Garcia, however, is the first Otter to post three 2-homer games in the same season.
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IN THE HOLE… The Otters earned their 12th run-rule win of the season with their 8-0 victory in Game 1. The CSUMB record for run-rule wins is 14 by the 2015 CCAA Champion Otters.
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LEADERS OF THE RAFT… Julia Garcia (3x6, 2B, 2 HR (10,11), 3 R, 3 RBI);
Jenae Coleman (3x4, 2B, HR (4), 2 R, 3 RBI);
Lusi Stanley (3x6, 2B, HR (4), 2 R, RBI);
Jayme Stark (2x6, 2 2B, 2 R);
Hayley Fein (2 W (21-6), 11.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 11 K, 4 BB).
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THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters will conclude their 6-game roadtrip with a 4-game set at San Francisco State. The series begins with a doubleheader on Friday, Apr. 14 at 1 p.m.
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GO OTTERS!
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