SAN BERNARDINO – The Chico State softball team will not remember its weekend trek to Southern California with any sort of fondness, but at least the Wildcats were able to take out two days of frustration on host Cal State San Bernardino with a dominant 8-0 victory in the nightcap of Saturday's series-ending doubleheader. After dropping both ends of Friday's doubleheader and falling victim to the Coyotes 8-0 in Saturday's first game, the 'Cats avoided a series sweep by erupting for 14 hits to post a convincing 8-0 win to earn a split of the twinbill.
Chico State finished the weekend with an overall record of 13-7, and now sit in fourth place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings with a 10-6 conference mark. With Saturday's split, Cal State San Bernardino is 14-14 on the season and 6-9 in CCAA play.
Brynn Lesovsky and Briana Contreras were the Wildcats' hottest hitters Saturday, each picking up four hits, with Contreras knocking in three runs in the game two victory. Emily McEnaney and Courtney Brown had two safeties apiece as Chico State collected 17 total hits on the day.
Haley Gilham pitched one of her best games of the year in Saturday's doubleheader nightcap. The freshman scattered three hits and walked just one in posting her first career shutout and sixth complete game of the season to improve her overall record to 5-4. In lowering her season earned run average to 2.32, Gilham did not allow an earned run in 12 total innings of work against San Bernardino.
The Coyotes took immediate command of Saturday's doubleheader opener, drawing first blood on a Victoria Lievanos two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning. San Bernardino scored three times in the bottom of the fourth, then in the fifth plated runs on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch to extend its advantage to 7-0.
Chico State could only muster a double by Lesovsky and singles by Contreras and Tori Zimmermann against Coyotes' starting pitcher Cassandra Williams, who ended the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth, giving San Bernardino the 8-0 win. Brooke Langeloh started in the pitcher's circle for the Wildcats, but couldn't survive the fifth inning and took the loss to fall to 7-3 on the season.
It was a different story in the nightcap, when the Wildcat bats came alive in the very first inning. Base hits by McEnaney and Alli Cook and a walk to Desiree' Gonzalez loaded the bases, then Brown, Lesovsky and Contreras each came through with RBI singles to put the Wildcats on top 3-0. In the third Contreras doubled home Brown and Lesovsky scored on a infield single by Cailin Garmon to give the 'Cats a 5-0 lead.
With Gilham keeping the Coyotes at bay, Chico State went up 7-0 in the top of the fourth when a Lesovsky single chased home Brown and McEnaney. In the sixth inning Lesovsky doubled and scored on a base hit by Contreras, and Gilham followed with a scoreless bottom of the sixth to end the contest, giving the Wildcats the 8-0 win and the doubleheader split.
Chico State returns home next weekend to host the No. 3-ranked Otters of Cal State Monterey Bay. The four-game series gets underway Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m., with a Saturday twinbill starting at noon.
