SEASIDE – If it was a pitcher’s duel you were looking for Wednesday, you weren’t going to find it at the Otter Sports Complex. Chico State and Cal State Monterey Bay, both destined for next week’s California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship and a likely trip to the NCAA West Regional, combined to score 30 runs and bang out 52 hits in doubleheader action that saw the No. 19 Wildcats hang on to win the opener 8-7, then mount a furious seventh inning comeback in the nightcap before falling in extra frames to the No. 7 Otters, 8-7.
The doubleheader split moved Chico State, ranked No. 4 in the West Region, to 30-14 on the season and 21-9 in the CCAA. The game one victory gives Chico State 30 wins in a season for the third consecutive year – a first in the softball program’s 44-year history. Angel Shamblin also becomes the only Wildcat softball coach ever to rack up more than two 30-win seasons in a career. Cal State Monterey Bay, the No. 2-ranked team in the West, is 38-10 overall and 23-7 in the CCAA as a result of the doubleheader split.
Three Wildcats – Britt Wright, Rachel Failla and Jackie Munoz – each had five hits on the day, with Wright extending her current hitting streak to eight straight games. Hailey Stockman added four hits and three runs batted in to the Chico State attack, which outhit Monterey Bay, the top hitting team in the conference, 30-22.
Things didn’t start out well for Chico State in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Cal State Monterey Bay jumped out in front with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, but the ’Cats answered in the top of the third, using run-scoring singles by Stockman and Bianca Lopez and an RBI groundout by Sam Quadt to go up 3-2. Monterey Bay came back with three runs of its own in the bottom of the third to go back in front, 5-3. But Wildcat starter Sam Baker settled down nicely after that, retiring 12 of the next 13 Monterey Bay batters she faced.
Chico State put another crooked number on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning – with two outs and nobody on, Munoz and Wright delivered back-to-back singles and came home on Lopez’s double down the right field line. Quadt followed with an infield single to score Lopez to put the Wildcats back on top, 6-5.
Chico State padded its lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning on RBI doubles by Quadt and Stockman, and took an 8-5 advantage into the bottom of the seventh. But Monterey Bay rallied, loading the bases with one out and pulling to within 8-7 on Jackie Serna’s two-run single. With the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position, Baker came up big, getting Nikki Rodriguez to pop up to shortstop and striking out Nicole Pires to end the game and give the Wildcats the nail-biting 8-7 win.
Baker tossed her 14th complete game of the season and struck out four to win her sixth straight decision, improving to 15-5 on the year. Lopez, Quadt and Munoz each went 3-for-4 to lead the Wildcats’ 14-hit attack, with Lopez and Quadt both driving in three runs. Stockman added two hits and two RBI for the victorious ’Cats.
BOX SCORE - Game One
The Otters struck first in the nightcap, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Jamie Moon scored from third on a two-out double steal. Chico State knotted things up in the top of the third, when Stockman’s two-out double plated Lopez. Monterey Bay muscled up on Wildcat starter Jessica McDermott in the bottom of the fourth, as solo home runs by Serna and Pires put the Otters back in front, 3-1.
In the top of the fifth inning, it was Diana Payan’s turn to deliver a two-out RBI hit – her single up the middle plated Quadt, with Stockman coming home on an Otter throwing error, tying up the game at three apiece. Monterey Bay retook the lead in the bottom of the frame on Danica Arterburn’s two-out, two-run double, then in the sixth the Otters added a pair of runs to make it a 7-3 contest.
Chico State was down to its final two outs in the top of the seventh inning, but came through with six straight hits – Munoz, Wright, Emily McEnaney and Taylor Hanamaikai all providing RBI singles – and the ’Cats’ four-run rally tied the game at 7-7. Monterey Bay put the potential winning run on second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Wildcat reliever Kayla McConnell got the next two hitters to send the game into extra innings.
Both teams went out in order in the eighth, but in the top of the ninth two walks and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases for Chico State with nobody out. Otters reliever Caitlin Wallace was able to induce three straight ground ball outs to diffuse the uprising, and the Wildcats came away empty. Monterey Bay then pushed across the winning run in its half of the ninth – with runners at second and third and two out, Alyssa Rivera singled down the right field line to plate Pires, giving the Otters the 8-7 extra-inning victory and the doubleheader split.
The Wildcats collected 16 hits in the losing effort, with Failla and Wright picking up four knocks apiece. McConnell allowed just one run in three-and-a-third innings of relief, but took the hard-luck loss to fall to 6-4 on the year.
BOX SCORE - Game Two
Chico State wraps up the regular season this weekend, traveling to Hayward to take on Cal State East Bay in doubleheader action Friday and Saturday afternoon.
