Friday didn't start on a very encouraging note for the Chico State softball team, as rain wiped out the first game of its scheduled series-opening doubleheader with Cal State Dominguez Hills. The skies cleared enough in the late afternoon to allow the Wildcats and Toros to get one game in, and thanks to a pair of big two-out RBI hits, the 'Cats claimed an exciting 5-4 victory in action at University Softball Field.
The win snapped a three-game Chico State losing streak and raised the Wildcats' season record to 14-15. The 'Cats now enter the weekend all alone in sixth place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with a 7-9 conference mark. Cal State Dominguez Hills dipped to 21-11 overall and 10-7 in CCAA play.
The Wildcats collected six hits in the contest, with Grace Stover and Anastacia Alba leading the Chico State offense with two hits apiece. Hailey Seva and Tayler Berens each had one hit on the day—but both were key to Chico State returning to the "W" column.
The 'Cats wasted little time getting on the scoreboard—Stover led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple down the right field line, and after Berens was hit by a pitch and stole second base, Seva roped a two-out triple to right field to drive in her seventh and eighth runs of the year to put Chico State in front 2-0.
Dominguez Hills tied up the contest in the top of the third inning, as Alex Davis singled home a pair against Chico State starting pitcher Amelie Valdez. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the fifth, when the Wildcats put together what turned out to be the winning rally. With runners at second and third, Stover ripped a line drive that deflected off pitcher Sara Bhatt, allowing Alba to score the go-ahead run. With two outs, Berens sent an opposite field liner to the left-center field gap, plating Stover and Rachael Bles to extend Chico State's advantage to 5-2.
Down to their final two outs in the top of the seventh, the Toros came charging back, and a bases-loaded single by Maiya Lopez scored a pair and made it a one-run game. But with runners at the corners, Wildcat reliever Mari Takeda Bajan came up huge, striking out Faith Hernandez and getting pinch-hitter Amara Labonog to ground out to Alba at third to end the game and give Chico State the 5-4 victory.
Katelyn Oldwin, the second of three Wildcat pitchers, got credit for the win to raise her season record to 5-6. Takeda Bajan earned her fourth save of the year.
Chico State and Cal State Dominguez Hills conclude their rain-shortened three-game series Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. Fans can follow the action online with Live Stats and live streaming video, with links located on the Wildcat Athletics homepage and the softball schedule page. Accessing the live video stream requires a monthly subscription fee that grants users access to every CCAA event on the network, home and away.
