STOCKTON – Arnaiz Field in Stockton continues to be a thorn in the side of the Chico State softball team – despite reaching the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament three years running, the Wildcats have dropped six of eight games at the tourney’s home site. After winning their opening game Friday, the ’Cats were bounced out of the double-elimination tournament Saturday, falling to UC San Diego 3-2 in an afternoon winner’s bracket game, then later in the evening came up on the short end of a 4-0 final to Cal State Monterey Bay.
The two losses saw Chico State’s season record dip to 35-16 overall, but despite a tough Saturday, the Wildcats will live to play another day, as they are expected to be one of the eight West Region teams chosen to compete in next weekend’s NCAA West Regional Tournament. Chico State will find out its seed, first round opponent and where they will play Monday at 7 a.m. during the NCAA’s online selection show.
Bianca Lopez had four hits on the day for the Wildcats, while Britt Wright had a hit in both Saturday contests to extend her hitting streak to 15 straight games.
Things started well for Chico State in the winner’s bracket game against UC San Diego. The Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead against All-CCAA pitcher Camille Gaito when Jackie Munoz and Kelli Keefe each delivered two-out RBI singles in the bottom of the second inning. Chico State starter Sam Baker kept the Tritons off the scoreboard for the first five frames, retiring 11 in a row at one point. UC San Diego finally broke through and tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning on a bases-loaded single by Charly Swanberg, plating Kris Lesovsky and Kirsten Willmon.
Chico State loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning, but Gaito retired Diana Payan on a fly ball to left and got Emily McEnaney to ground out to end the threat. The Tritons won the game in the bottom of the seventh, when Monique Portugal led off the inning with a single and came home on back-to-back two-out base hits by Willmon and Caitlin Brown, giving UC San Diego the come-from-behind 3-2 victory.
Gaito went the distance to pick up the win and improve to 22-8 on the year. Kayla McConnell suffered the loss in relief for Chico State to drop to 6-5 on the season.
BOX SCORE vs. UC San Diego
In Saturday night’s elimination game against Cal State Monterey Bay, the Wildcats could not get their offense untracked, as Otters starting pitcher Kori Reinhardt held them to just three hits in the contest. That didn’t mean Chico State was without scoring opportunities – after Monterey Bay took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, the ’Cats used a pair of walks and an Otters error to load the bases with only one out. Reinhardt was able to wiggle out of the jam unscathed by getting Payan to hit a grounder to first base that forced Lopez at the plate, and retiring McEnaney on a grounder to second to end the frame. In the bottom of the fifth, singles by Wright and Rachel Failla put Wildcat runners at the corners, but Lopez bounced out to third to end the would-be rally.
In the top of the sixth inning, Monterey Bay utilized two walks, a Chico State error and a groundout to plate a pair of runs and go up 3-0. The Otters scored again in the seventh when Jackie Serna’s infield single plated Ang Orozco from third, forcing the Wildcats to duplicate their four-run seventh inning rally from Friday night just to keep the game alive. The ’Cats did get two runners aboard with one out in the final frame, but Wright and Lopez both grounded out to end it, giving Monterey Bay the 4-0 victory and putting a premature end to Chico State’s weekend.
BOX SCORE vs. Cal State Monterey Bay
Reinhardt went the distance for Cal State Monterey Bay to improve to 22-4 on the season; Wildcats starter Jessica McDermott allowed just one earned run in five-plus innings, but took the loss to fall to 10-6 on the year. With the win, Monterey Bay advances to Championship Sunday, where the Otters meet UC San Diego. The Tritons will have two chances to win one game to claim the CCAA tournament crown and the conference’s automatic NCAA West Regional bid.
