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Box Score 2 TURLOCK – The Chico State softball team didn’t get a whole lot of time to reflect on its bumpy start to the 2013 season…and that’s probably for the best. The Wildcats quickly turned the page on Saturday’s 0-3 showing at the Mizuno Best of the West Invitational, as the ’Cats’ offense generated six home runs and 20 total hits to win a pair Sunday, blasting Holy Names 16-4 and wrapping up the tournament with a 7-2 win over Dominican University at Pedretti Park in Turlock.
Sunday’s wins improved Chico State’s record to 2-3 on the season.
Chico State 16, Holy Names 4
The ’Cats scored in every inning against Holy Names and piled up 14 hits – as many as they produced in Saturday’s three games combined. Desiree’ Gonzalez got Chico State rolling in the top of the first inning – following a two-out single by Emily McEnaney, Gonzalez crushed her first round-tripper as a Wildcat over the left field fence.
The ’Cats went up 5-0 with three runs in the second inning – Brynn Lesovsky led off with a double and scored on a throwing error, followed by a two-run homer by Amanda Cordeiro.
Holy Names got on the board with a run in the bottom of the second inning, but Chico State answered with three more in the top of the third, using the long ball not once, but twice – with Gonzalez aboard, Lesovsky sent one over the center field fence, and later in the frame starting pitcher Brooke Langeloh helped her own cause with a bomb to right-center to make it 8-1.
McEnaney doubled home Alli Cook in the top of the fourth inning, but Holy Names got it back with a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 9-2 contest. In the fifth, Chico State blew the game open, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring seven times – Cordeiro, McEnaney and Kelli Keefe provided RBI singles, Kayla Barber delivered a two-run double, and Gonzalez capped the inning with her second homer of the day, a two-run shot to left-center, to give the Wildcats a 16-2 lead.
Holy Names scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Hawks from falling victim to the eight-run rule, and the game ended with the ’Cats winning 16-4. The victory was Chico State’s first of the year, and the 100th career win for Head Coach Angel Shamblin since taking over the program in 2010.
Langeloh went the distance in the pitcher’s circle to earn the win for the Wildcats. McEnaney finished the game 3-for-4, with Gonzalez, Lesovsky and Cordeiro picking up two hits apiece.
Chico State 7, Dominican University 2
Chico State spotted the Penguins a run in the top of the first inning, then tallied six unanswered runs to take early control of the contest. In the bottom of the first, Keefe scored on a throwing error, and a sacrifice fly by McEnaney plated Cook to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. The ’Cats extended their advantage to five in the bottom of the second – Cook and Gonzalez both providing RBI singles as Chico State scored four in the frame to go up 6-1.
The Wildcats once again dialed long distance in the bottom of the fifth, as McEnaney led off the inning with a home run to left. Chico State starting pitcher Alex Molina surrendered a solo homer in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to keep the ’Cats from prevailing over Dominican by a final of 7-2.
Molina tossed a complete game seven-hitter and struck out six to pick up her first victory as a Wildcat. Cook had two of Chico State’s six hits in the contest.
Afterward, Gonzalez was named to the Best of the West Invitational all-tournament team.
The Wildcats return to action Feb. 15-16, kicking off California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play with a four-game road series against defending conference co-champion Cal State Dominguez Hills.
