ISLA VISTA, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans softball team came back from the brink of defeat and defeated the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 5-3 in game one of the series.
The Titans were down to their final out in the Top of the 7th and losing 3-2 against the Gauchos with runners on 1st and 2nd.
Enter Jessi Alcala for the late game heroics. Alcala swatted a 2-1 pitch way over the CF fence to give the Titans a 5-3 lead on her fifth home run of the season.
NO WAYYYYY @jjeess13 JUST DID THAT!!!!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/AcZ9CXdQCP
— Titans Softball (@Fullerton_SB) April 22, 2022
The Titans move to 29-15 (13-3 BWC) on the season while the Gauchos fall to 11-30 (3-13 BWC) for the season.
The Gauchos struck first in the first inning after taking advantage of a fielding error in the inning. They were able to load the bases with two outs and a hit by pitch brought across the first run unearned.
The Gauchos added another run in the second off another two out hit. Maci Fines had a single that went off the outstretched glove of Peyton Toto to bring across the second run.
In the third inning, the Titans could've had a huge opportunity with bases loaded and no outs. But Antuanett Dean and Megan Delgadillo were both called out for illegally batted balls on clean hits in the inning.
The Titans had another good opportunity to score after loading the bases in the fifth inning. Evelyn Sablan led the inning off with a walk. Daisy Munoz and Deshea Hill would both reach on a hit by pitch and a walk, however the Titans left the bags loaded in the inning.
The Titans finally scored their first two runs of the game in the sixth inning. Kika Ramirez led the inning off with a base hit and Alcala singled through the left side. Alexa Neil had a single up the middle to load the bases. Alyssa Hernandez grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to put two outs on the board.
However, Megan Delgadillo singled up the middle and on the play, the second baseman threw the ball away trying to get the runner out at third into the dugout which allowed the second run to score automatically.
T6 | TIE GAME! @megdelgadillo37 singles up the middle and the infielder throws the ball into the dugout at 3rd to bring in another run. We're tied 2-2 in this one!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/Nr3Frxhlu3
— Titans Softball (@Fullerton_SB) April 22, 2022
The Gauchos would respond immediately in the bottom of the sixth. They led off the inning with an E6 and Toto threw the ball into the dugout which put the runner on second. The Gauchos had a couple singles in the inning which scored the leadoff runner and gave them a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh.
However, the Titans responded with Jessi Alcala's late game heroics and Raci Miranda closed out the final inning.
Myka Sutherlin got the start and went 5.1 innings allowing three runs (only 1 earned run) on 7 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Raci Miranda picked up the win after going 1.2 innings and allowing just one hit and fanning two batters. Lexi Mills took the loss for the Gauchos after tossing 166 pitches in the complete game losing effort.
The Titans will look to pick up the series win against UC Santa Barbara in a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game is set for 1:00 pm and the second game is set for 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home softball game exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Anderson Family Field. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (FullertonTitans). In addition, the softball team has established its own Twitter (fullerton_sb) and Instagram accounts (fullerton_sb).