TURLOCK – Last season, Angel Shamblin won high praise for how quickly she turned the Chico State softball program around, turning a sub-.500 team into a confident club that came within one victory of the College World Series. The head coach of the Wildcats obviously knows how to evaluate talent as well, as four of her newest recruits – junior college transfers Sam Baker, Britt Wright, Diana Payan and Jackie Munoz – made huge contributions during the first day of the Mizuno Best of the West Inviational. Chico State opened the 2011 season Saturday by winning two of its three games at Pedretti Park in Turlock, beating Dominican University 7-0, then after dropping a 9-0 decision to Cal State San Marcos, came back to shut out San Francisco State 2-0.
Baker, the former Sierra College star, tossed 14 innings of shutout ball while striking out 23 batters in posting both Wildcat wins. Wright, Chico State’s new leadoff hitter, was a combined 6-for-9 on the day, with two runs scored, a pair of RBI and three stolen bases. Munoz was 3-for-10 and was a key factor in the ’Cats’ win over Dominican, while Payan went 4-for-9, including three hits and a RBI against San Francisco State.
In Saturday’s early game against Dominican, the Wildcats were hitting on all cylinders…literally. Behind a 15-hit attack and a four-hit, 14-strikeout performance by Baker, Chico State cruised to a 7-0 victory. Baker, Wright and Munoz – all playing their first game as Wildcats – combined for seven hits, six runs, four runs batted in and three stolen bases. Wright went 3-for-3 and stole a base; Baker had two hits, scored two runs and drove in three, while Munoz collected two hits, scored twice and swiped a pair of bases. Sam Quadt and Hailey Stockman, another new Wildcat, each had two hits, as every Chico State starter had at least one hit in the game.
Chico State needed just two batters to get on the scoreboard – in the top of the first inning, Wright singled, stole second and came home when Quadt delivered a double. Wright gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the top of the second when she knocked in Baker with a single through the right side.
Wright and Quadt teamed up again in the top of the fourth inning – Wright cracked a two-out double and scored on a Quadt single to put Chico State up 3-0. Dominican tried to answer back in the bottom of the inning, putting runners at second and third with one out, but Baker struck out Dominique Perry and Kayleigh Klingberg to turn away the threat.
The ’Cats made it 4-0 with another two-out rally in the fifth inning, as Munoz singled, stole second and came home when Baker shot a base hit through the left side. Dominican tried again to get on the board in the bottom of the sixth, getting its first two hitters aboard, but Baker promptly struck out the next three Penguin hitters to end the inning.
Chico State put the game away with three runs in the top of the seventh – Munoz and Failla singled to lead off the inning, pulled off a successful double steal, and scored on a single by Baker, who eventually came home on a Kelly Head groundout to make the score 7-0. Baker retired Dominican in order in the bottom of the seventh to cement the Wildcat win.
BOX SCORE vs. Dominican University
Chico State quickly came back to earth in the day’s second game against Cal State San Marcos, the No. 8-ranked NAIA team in the country. The Cougars handed the ’Cats a 9-0 defeat as pitcher Brenna Sandberg struck out eight over five shutout innings and held the Wildcats to just four hits; a double by Stockman accounted for Chico State’s lone extra base hit of the game.
The Wildcats were able to wiggle out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, but missed an opportunity in the bottom of the inning to draw first blood by leaving a pair of runners in scoring position. Kacie McCarthy, in relief of starting pitcher Jessica McDermott, was one out away from working out of another bases-loaded situation in the top of the second inning, but with two outs, walked Kaitlin McGinley to force home a run; Alyssa Dronenburg followed with a two-run single through the right side to give San Marcos a 3-0 lead.
Chico State threatened to get back into the contest in the bottom of the third inning, putting runners at second and third with one out, but Sandberg struck out Stockman and Rachel Failla to end the threat. Alex Miller’s RBI double in the top of the fifth inning made the score 4-0, then in the top of the sixth the Cougars tagged McCarthy and Sarah Marcia for five runs to take a commanding 9-0 lead. The Wildcats were unable to score in their half of the inning, ending the game and giving Chico State its first loss of the season.
BOX SCORE vs. Cal State San Marcos
The ’Cats had to work for their 2-0 win over San Francisco State in the final game of the day. Chico State put runners at second and third with nobody out in the top of the first inning, but could not score…meanwhile, the Gators reached Baker for two singles and received two walks in the bottom of the first, but also came away empty. The Wildcats went up 1-0 in the top of the second when Head delivered a two-out single, advanced to second on a walk to Jessie Minch and scored when Wright smacked a single through the right side.
San Francisco State got a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Baker was able to get out of the jam unscathed. The Gators put the potential tying run in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings, but Baker was able to get the big out each time that kept San Francisco State off the scoreboard. The ’Cats put up a big insurance run in the top of the seventh inning when Payan doubled home Quadt to make it a 2-0 game. That was all Baker needed – the Reno, Nevada native promptly struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to lock down the Wildcat win and her second shutout of the day.
BOX SCORE vs. San Francisco State
Chico State wraps up the Best of the West Invitational Sunday with games against Sonoma State at 11 a.m. and host school Cal State Stanislaus at 1:45 p.m.
