CHICO – The Chico State softball team had no trouble getting runners aboard in its Saturday doubleheader with Cal State Monterey Bay. Getting key hits to score those runners, though, proved elusive…until the very end. The Wildcats stranded a dozen runners in dropping the first game of the twinbill 9-3, but after leaving nine runners aboard in the nightcap and nearly wasting a superb pitching performance by Jessica McDermott, Diana Payan’s RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the ’Cats a 1-0 victory over the Otters to earn a split of the double dip and sent the team into the postseason on a winning note.
Chico State wraps up the regular season 29-15 overall, and finishes in third place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with a 20-12 conference mark. Cal State Monterey Bay’s 2011 campaign came to a close Saturday, posting a 24-27 record and finishing in sixth place in the CCAA with a 17-18 conference mark.
Britt Wright was Saturday’s hitting star for the Wildcats, going a combined 5-for-9 in the double dip – including four hits in game one – and scoring the only run in the nightcap. Payan, Hailey Stockman and Taylor Hanamaikai had two hits apiece as Chico State finishes regular season play with six victories in its final nine games.
Following the special Senior Day salute to Sarah Marcia and Christina Wieck, the Wildcats went out in front 1-0 in game one, as Hanamaikai walked and scored on a Jessie Minch base hit in the bottom of the second inning. The ’Cats had opportunities to put a crooked run on the board in both the first and second, but left the bases loaded each time. Monterey Bay tied up the contest in the top of the third on a Jackie Serna RBI single, then took a 3-1 lead in the fourth frame when pinch hitter Channing Peebles tripled home Shannon Bailey and Caydi Dommeyer.
Shae Olds cracked an RBI double in the top of the fifth inning to chase Wildcat starting pitcher Sam Baker; later in the frame pinch runner Skyler Valdivia scored on a base hit by Bailey. Now down 5-1, the Wildcats tried to claw back into the contest – Stockman led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and scored on a Baker sacrifice fly; later in the inning Rachel Failla came home on Wright’s two-out infield single to pull Chico State to within 5-3…but again, the Wildcats failed to put up an even bigger inning by leaving the bases loaded.
Monterey Bay salted the game away with two runs in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh, cruising to the 9-3 victory. The Otters outhit the Wildcats 15-10; Monterey Bay starting pitcher Caitlin Wallace got credit for the win to improve to 5-4 on the year, while Diane Ortiz tossed two-and-two-third innings of shutout relief to notch her first save of the season. Baker allowed four earned runs in four-and-a-third innings to take the loss; she dropped to 20-7 on the season.
BOX SCORE - Game One
Game two of Saturday’s doubleheader was dominated by pitching as McDermott and Ortiz locked up for a tantalizing pitcher’s duel. Monterey Bay threatened to score twice in the first three innings, but each time McDermott wiggled out of the jam – the Otters got a runner to third with nobody out in the top of the first inning but came away empty; then in the third an error and two walks loaded the bases, but McDermott struck out Ortiz to end the inning.
The Wildcats didn’t get their first hit off Ortiz until the bottom of the fourth inning, but stranded a runner at third in the frame. Monterey Bay missed another scoring opportunity in the top of the fifth, as McDermott got out of another bases-loaded situation unscathed; Chico State quickly followed suit, leaving the bags juiced in the bottom of the sixth.
The game remained scoreless going into extra innings, with McDermott and Ortiz matching each other zero for zero. In the top of the 10th, Monterey Bay threatened again as Serna tripled to lead off the inning. McDermott stiffened once again, inducing a comebacker to the mound and striking out Ortiz and Brittany Alvarado to keep the Otters off the scoreboard. Finally, in the bottom of the 10th, the Wildcats pushed across the game-winner and sent the fans home happy – with Wright at second, Payan scorched a double into the right-center field gap to knock in the lone run of the contest and give Chico State the 1-0 win and a split of the regular season-ending doubleheader.
McDermott struck out eight in going the distance to improve to 8-5 on the year; Ortiz suffered the hard-luck loss to fall to 9-12 overall.
BOX SCORE - Game Two
Chico State now heads to Stockton to take part in next weekend’s CCAA Championship Tournament. The Wildcats, the No. 3 seed in the double-elimination tourney, will face No. 2 Sonoma State (33-20, 23-13 CCAA) at 7 p.m. Friday at Arnaiz Field. Top seed UC San Diego, the conference's regular season champion, will take on No. 4 Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday at 4:30 p.m. to kick off the CCAA Championship Tournament.
