TURLOCK, Calif. -- Led by an MVP performance from junior third baseman Julia Garcia (Ventura College), the No. 15 ranked Cal State Monterey Bay softball team swept its final two games Sunday afternoon to earn its second Tournament of Champions title.
 

CSUMB (29-4 overall), which also captured the TOC crown in 2012, beat pesky Academy of Art 5-3 in Sunday's opener before clinching the championship with a 6-1 victory over Hawaii Pacific.
 

Garcia went 3-for-6 in Sunday's games while driving in three runs, including the game-winner versus ArtU. She finished tournament play with a .579 batting average (11-for-19) with a double, a triple, a home run and seven RBIs in six games.
 

Senior right fielder Sam Luna (Salinas HS/MPC) and freshman pitcher Hayley Fein (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs HS) joined Garcia on the all-tournament team. Luna hit .538 in tournament play (7-for-13) with a pair of triples, five runs and four RBI. Fein went 4-0 in the circle with a 1.30 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched.
 

The Otters had to claw out the win over ArtU, manufacturing five runs on just six hits with the help of four walks and five Urban Knight errors. An RBI single by Garcia and a sacrifice fly from Madison Casto (Sunnyvale/Homestead HS) staked CSUMB to a 2-0 lead in the third inning versus HPU. Rosalia Keirns (Claremont HS) twirled a 4-hitter to improve to 8-0 on the season.
 

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THE ARTU GAME WAS OVER WHEN… Jayme Stark (La Quinta HS) went into shallow left to corral a popup then threw to Courtney Hennings (Amador Valley HS) at second to double up an Urban Knight runner for the final out.
 

THE HAWAII PACIFIC GAME WAS OVER WHEN… Jenae Coleman's (Castaic/Hart HS) 2-run, pinch-hit single in the top of the seventh extended CSUMB's lead to 4-1.
 

LEADING OFF… Sunday's wins pushed CSUMB's winning streak to 18 games, the second longest in school history. The Otter record for most consecutive wins (any sport) is 19 straight by the 2015 Otter softball team.
 

ON DECK… With six wins at the 2016 Tournament of Champions, CSUMB improved to 56-19 (.747) in tournament play, the best winning percentage in TOC history.
 

IN THE HOLE… At 29-4 overall, CSUMB is guaranteed to finish .500 or better for the eighth time in the 12-year history of the program. With one more victory, the Otters will have their seventh 30-plus win season in the last 10.
 

THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters will travel back to Turlock for a CCAA doubleheader against Stanislaus State Wednesday (Apr. 5). The Otters return home to host a 4-game series versus Cal State East Bay Friday and Saturday (Apr. 7-8).


 

GO OTTERS!