SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton (24-13, 2-1) softball team used a nine-run fifth inning and two home runs from senior Eliza Crawford to rout UC Santa Barbara (12-22, 1-2), 15-5, in five innings at Campus Diamond on Sunday afternoon to clinch the first Big West Conference series of the season.
With the rubber match still in contention heading into the fifth with the Titans clinging to a 6-4 advantage, the barrage of runs was highlighted by RBI singles from Lexi Gonzalez, Delynn Rippy, Courtney Rodriguez, and Kylie Padilla, while Sarah Moore added a two-run single and Crawford launched her second homer of the contest with a three-run shot to right center. In total, Fullerton notched seven base-hits to bring across nine runs to put the game out of reach.
A whopping seven different Titans recorded multi-hit games beginning with the 1-5 hitters of Sammie Vandiver (2-for-3), Rippy (3-for-4), Rodriguez (2-for-4), Moore (2-for-4) and Crawford (2-for-3) who combined for nine runs and 11 RBIs.
Crawford tallied the second two-homer game of her career en route to a five RBIs performance. Vandiver continued her torrid pace since being inserted into the starting line-up, extending her program record hitting-streak to 21 games in 21 starts. CSF freshmen infielders Brannan (2-for-2) and Ybarra (2-for-3) combined to score four times as well.
Fullerton's offense began its big day in the second inning, as Moore led off with a single into center field. Crawford moved Moore to second with a perfectly place sacrifice bunt right in front of the plate, and scooted to third on a wild pitch by UCSB starter Alex Pingree. Ybarra roped a single off the shortstop's glove which trickled into center to bring home Moore. Brannan chipped in another run with a towering double over the left fielder's head to give the Titans an early 2-0 lead.
The Titans tacked on a pair of runs in the third inning with Crawford's first round-tripper of the contest with a two-run shot, while another two runs were put on the board in the fourth frame via a two-run single by Rodriguez.
CSF junior right-hander Jasmine Antunez (3-4) picked up the win after tossing two and 1/3 innings of relief, yielding one run on four hits. Antunez chalked up her two strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth to close the door on the Gauchos and preserve the run-rule victory. Fullerton starter Christina Washington labored through the first two and 2/3 frames, surrendering four runs on five hits before giving way to Antunez.
Ashley Ludlow (2-14) took the loss for the Gauchos and was tagged for 11 runs on 11 hits in two and 1/3 innings of relief, while Pingree was ineffective as well, giving up four runs on seven hits over the beginning two and 2/3 frames.
Cal State Fullerton will now return home to host Big West foe Hawai'i for a single-game matchup on Friday, April 3 at 5 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, April 4 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on ESPN3 to conclude the three-game series at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif.
Game Notes: The nine-run fifth inning and the 18 Fullerton hits are each season bests, respectively…The 15 runs on the board for CSF tied a season-high last occurring versus Boise State in a 15-4 rout on Feb. 13…Vandiver continues her torrid pace as a starter extending her program record hitting-streak to 21 games in 21 starts…Fullerton now owns a 107-13 series record over the Gauchos capturing nine of the last 11 meetings, while being 7-1 in series victories at Santa Barbara since the conference transitioned to three-game sets beginning in the 2000 campaign…The Titans are now 4-3 on Sunday's and 2-2 on the road…A trio of Titans have reached base in 10 or more consecutive games; Vandiver (21), Rodriguez (16) and Missy Taukeiaho (13)…Ybarra roped the first triple of her career in the fifth frame…Rippy turned in her third three-hit performance, while Rodriguez logged her team-high 17th multi-hit game of the season…Crawford is only the second Titan this year to chalk up five RBIs in one game, joining Taukeiaho who has accomplished this feat on two occasions.
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