TURLOCK—It may be a little early to dub this year's edition of the Chico State softball team the "Cardiac 'Cats," but head coach Angel Shamblin's squad has found itself in several come-from-behind situations, and utilized some late-inning heroics to pull out the victories. The Wildcats applied that approach not once, but twice during Friday's opening day action at the Tournament of Champions, erasing late deficits to edge Holy Names 4-2 and Central Washington 2-1 at the Pedretti Sports Complex in Turlock.
 
Friday's two wins moves Chico State to 20-7 on the season. The Wildcats also continue to rack up the "W's" at the Tournament of Champions—since 2016, the 'Cats are now 17-1 at the annual tournament in Turlock.
 
Chico State collected 14 hits over the two games, with Angel Lopez going 4-for-7 on the day. Bailey Akins contributed three hits—all for extra bases—to the 'Cats' attack, while Reilani Peleti had a double among her two hits.
 
In Friday's afternoon game against Holy Names, Chico State broke the seal in the top of the second inning when Akins doubled, moved to third on a base hit by Peleti, and scored on Breanna Martin's bunt single. The Wildcats had two chances to add to their lead, but left the bases loaded in the second and stranded two runners in scoring position in the third.

 

Holy Names took advantage of a Chico State error to knot up the contest with an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning, then executed a double steal in the bottom of the fourth to score and go up 2-1. In the top of the fifth it took one swing of Akins' bat to put the 'Cats back in front—with two aboard, she sent her fourth home run of the year over the center field fence, making it a 4-2 ballgame.
 
The three-run blast was the 20th round-tripper of Akins' Chico State career, tying her with Hailey Stockman for second place on the Wildcats' all-time home run list.
 
Wildcats starting pitcher Sam Mulock made the newfound lead stand up, blanking Holy Names over the final three innings and setting down the Hawks in order in the bottom of the seventh to lock down Chico State's 4-2 victory. Mulock went the distance to earn the win and raise her season record to 5-2.
 
Friday's late game featured a pair of Wildcat teams going head-to-head, as Chico State squared off against Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC)-leading Central Washington. The two squads had their ace pitchers—Central Washington's Lexie Strasser and Brooke Larsen of Chico State—in the circle, and the two righthanders matched each other zero for zero through the first three frames before a fourth inning RBI single by Alycia Bannan gave Central Washington a 1-0 lead.
 
Chico State could not get the offense untracked, with a second inning single by Amanda Metzger the team's only hit through the first five frames.
 
Chico State finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth. Lopez led off the inning with a base hit, was sacrificed to second by Ari Marsh, and came home when Claire Wayne delivered a single down the right field line to tie the score at 1-1.
 
Larsen tossed a scoreless top of the seventh, setting up Chico State for the game-winning rally in the final inning of regulation. Akins led off with a double to right-center, and two batters later Larsen stroked a single to left-center field, plating Akins and giving the Wildcats the 2-1 victory.
 
Larsen allowed just a run on five hits and struck out seven in tossing her 11th complete game of the year and improving her season record to 12-2.
 
Chico State is back in action Saturday in day two of the Tournament of Champions. The Wildcats will face Montana State-Billings at 3 p.m. at the Turlock Regional Sports Complex, then return to the Pedretti Sports Complex to take on Hawaii Hilo at 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action with Live Stats, available through the Wildcat Athletics website.