Pioneers Fall in Finale to CCAA Regular Season Champion Monterey Bay

  • April 24, 2010

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SEASIDE, Calif. - The ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ softball team closed out the season with a pair of losses to Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers (14-36, 5-31 CCAA) fell 4-1 in game one before dropping the finale, 8-0.

The Pioneers took an early lead after a pair of scoreless innings in game one, notching a single run in the top of the third. After senior Sarah Davini led off with a walk, freshman Renaye Gamson laid down the sacrifice bunt to move Davini over. With two outs, junior Nikki Freiberg doubled to left center, bringing Davini around to score and giving East Bay a 1-0 lead.

The Otters answered in the bottom of the fourth, scoring all four of their runs in the inning. CSUMB took advantage of an error on a strike out to start the inning with a runner on first. After the runner moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt, Diane Ortiz homered down the left field line to give the Otters a 2-1 lead. Cat Sampson followed with a single up the middle and Garcia's double brought in another run. A two-out single to right capped the scoring, putting the Otters up 4-1.

Despite tossing five innings of shutout softball, freshman starter Lauren Zweigle took the loss. The San Jose native allowed two earned runs on four hits while striking out five in six innings of work. Ortiz picked up the win for CSUMB, giving up one run on four hits and sitting down five on strikes in seven innings.

Game two saw the Otters get started in the second inning and never look back, posting the 8-0 win in five innings. Cal State Monterey Bay put together four hits in the second, scoring three runs to take a 3-0 lead. The bottom of the third saw more of the same for CSUMB, loading the bases with one out for Sampson who singled up the middle to bring in another pair. Another single brought in the third run of the inning to give the Otters a 6-0 lead. With the bases loaded and one out, junior Cat Schorn got the final two outs to end the inning and force the Otters to strand three.

Cal State Monterey Bay added another run in both the fourth and fifth to take the eight-run lead, while starter Nicole Garcia shut down the Pioneers, allowing just one hit and walking two in the shutout win. Zweigle took her second loss of the day, allowing two runs on three hits in one inning of work.

Freiberg led the Pioneers in game one, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Davini accounted for East Bay's only run of the day. Junior Sarah Hasenfus was the only batter to get to Garcia, while freshman Emily Montanez worked two walks on the day.

The Pioneers finish the season with five conference wins and 14 victories overall in their first season in the CCAA and Division II. East Bay will lose two seniors to graduation in Davini and Rachelle Boone who accounted for 29 of the Pioneers' runs and 28 of their RBI on the year.

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