ARCATA – The ball was flying out of the yard with alarmingly regularity Friday in Arcata, as the No. 4 Chico State softball team surrendered 11 home runs in a series-opening conference doubleheader with Humboldt State. The Lumberjacks swatted six round-trippers in the opener, beating the Wildcats 16-9, and despite 18 hits in the nightcap, the ’Cats couldn’t earn the split, giving up another five homers – including a game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning – in a 12-12 game suspended by darkness in the eighth inning.
The loss in game one of Friday’s doubleheader dropped Chico State to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Humboldt State improved to 7-7 on the season and 1-4 in CCAA play.
The Wildcats collected 28 hits on the afternoon. Hailey Stockman led the way with three hits, including two home runs, and knocked in a combined six runs; Britt Wright collected five hits, with Sam Quadt and Rachel Failla contributing four safeties apiece. The Chico State pitching staff, which entered the series with the third best team ERA in the conference, had no answers for a Humboldt State offense that pounded out 27 total hits, 15 for extra bases.
Chico State put the first run on the board in the opener of Friday’s twinbill, as Bianca Lopez delivered a one-out single in the top of the first inning, advanced to third on a single by Quadt and scored on a Stockman sacrifice fly. Humboldt State’s Alicia Reid answered with a solo home run off Sam Baker in the bottom of the frame, then in the bottom of the second the Lumberjacks went up 3-1 when Andrea Chavez blasted a two-run homer.
The Wildcats pulled to within a run in the top of the third inning when Wright singled, stole second and eventually came home when Stockman reached on an error. Humboldt State used the long ball to stretch in lead to 5-2 when Tanya Walker homered with a runner aboard.
Chico State a bases-loaded walk to Emily McEnaney, a fielder’s choice and a two-out, two-run double by Wright to score four times in the top of the fifth inning to go up 6-5, but the ’Cats lead was short-lived. With Kayla McConnell in the pitcher’s circle in relief of Baker, the Lumberjacks put up a six-spot in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of a three-run homer by Reid, a two-run bomb by Courtney Hiatt and a solo shot by Dani Randall. Now trailing 11-6, Chico State came up with three in the top of the sixth inning, two coming on Stockman’s second big fly of the year.
But that would be as close as the Wildcats would get, as Humboldt State jumped on McConnell and Baker for five hits and five runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 16-9. To their credit, the ’Cats never gave in, loading the bases in the top of the seventh…but Lumberjacks pitcher Jessica George was able to turn Chico State away without a score, locking down the wild 16-9 victory. Despite giving up seven runs and 10 hits, Humboldt starter Kayla Evans (3-4) got credit for the win; McConnell (1-1) took the loss for the Wildcats.
BOX SCORE - Game One
In what would turn out to be an even wilder nightcap, the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Wright scored on a Quadt groundout and McEnaney singled home a pair. In the bottom of the first, Reid smashed her third homer of the day, a solo shot, to put Humboldt State on the board, then in the second inning Wildcat starting pitcher Jessica McDermott issued a bases-loaded walk to bring the Lumberjacks to within a run.
The ’Cats were handed three runs in the top of the fourth inning when Lopez was walked with the bases loaded, followed by back-to-back hit by pitches to Quadt and Stockman. Another Humboldt homer, this time by Sammi Gilbert, made it a 6-3 game after four innings, but in the top of the fifth back-to-back RBI singles by Wright and Lopez and a Quadt sacrifice fly gave Chico State what appeared to be a comfortable 9-3 lead.
Humboldt State again went to the long ball not once, but twice in the bottom of the fifth. Randall and Sarah Fox both blasted two-run bombs to bring the Lumberjacks back to within two, but the Wildcats again answered with some extra-base pop of their own in the top of the seventh, as Qaudt doubled home Wright and scored when Stockman smacked her second round-tripper of the day. The ’Cats went into the bottom of the seventh up 12-7 and just three outs away from a doubleheader split.
The Lumberjacks opened the bottom of the seventh with three singles, and a McDermott walk forced home a run to pull Humboldt to within four. After a force at the plate, Randall cracked her second homer of the game and third of the day – the grand slam tying the contest at 12 apiece and send the game to extra innings. Chico State loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth, but could not push across the go-ahead run; after Baker retired the Lumberjacks in order in the bottom of the eighth, the umpires called the game due to darkness, with the two teams resuming action in the top of the ninth inning Saturday at 11 a.m. prior to the scheduled series-ending doubleheader.
