April 1, 2012
Box Score - Game One | Box Score - Game Two
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA - The Cal State Fullerton softball team earned its first Big West Conference series win of the 2012 season with a doubleheader split on Sunday afternoon, falling to host Cal Poly in the opener, 4-1, before rebounding with a 7-0 shutout victory in the rubber game at Bob Janssen Field in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The split moved the Titans to 14-17 overall and 2-1 in league play while the Mustangs moved to 8-22 and 1-2 in conference games.
Sophomore Leesa Harris led Fullerton with three hits on the day while senior Anissa Young homered and drove in four. Senior Nicole Johnson also finished 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored, but was walked four times (twice intentionally) and was hit by a pitch. Johnson, Harris, and Eliza Crawford each extended their hitting streaks to four games while Johnson and Harris have now reached base safely in each of their last six consecutive contests.
Fullerton returns to the diamond next weekend with a three-game series against UC Santa Barbara at Anderson Family Field. Due to the Easter holiday, the series opens on Friday afternoon (April 6) with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. before concluding on Saturday (April 7) with a single game at noon.
GAME 1: CAL POLY 4, CAL STATE FULLERTON 1
Freshman righthander Jordan Yates tossed a complete-game, four-hitter for her first win of the season and Mariah Cochiolo finished with two hits and a pair of RBI, helping lift the Mustangs to a 4-1 win in the first game on Sunday afternoon.
Yates (1-4) allowed only a single run while striking out five to earn the victory, helped out by a Cal Poly offense which collected 10 hits on the day. Redshirt junior Katey Laban (0-1), making her first start of the year after missing the first two months of the regular season, suffered the loss for the Titans, allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits over five innings.
Cochiolo doubled home the Mustangs' first run in the second and later homered in the fourth to put the game out of reach while Whitley Gerhart also had an RBI single and Emily Ceccacci drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth.
Yates held the Titans hitless until Harris reached on an infield hit in the third and carried a shutout into the sixth until a one-out walk to Johnson and back-to-back singles by Eliza Crawford and Young, the latter producing a run, finally got Fullerton on the scoreboard. Any further rally was snuffed out when pinch-runner Jena Rubio was thrown out at third trying to advance on Young's single and Yates induced Tiffany Sheffler to fly out to end the inning.
Kim Westlund also finished with two hits to join teammates Cochiolo and Gerhart while seven of the nine batters in the lineup finished with a hit.
GAME 2: CAL STATE FULLERTON 7, CAL POLY 0
Freshman lefthander Desiree Ybarra tossed a five-hit shutout while Leesa Harris and Ashley Carter each finished with a pair of hits to help lift the Titans to the nightcap victory.
Ybarra (9-9), who pitched an inning of relief in game one, went the distance in game two for her second win of the weekend, holding the Mustangs to five singles and working around four walks to strand nine baserunners - five of those in scoring position. She also struck out four for the game.
Yates (1-5), who was masterful in Cal Poly's game-two victory, lasted only one-third of an inning in the nightcap, allowing four runs on three hits in the loss. Chloe Wurst entered in relief and went the rest of the way, allowing three runs on six hits, walking four and striking out a pair in 6 2/3 innings of work.
A four-run first inning was more than enough for Ybarra and the Titans, as a one-out walk to Adriana Martinez and a single by Nicole Johnson put two on for Eliza Crawford, who promptly singled to right for the 1-0 lead. That brought up Anissa Young, who sent the second pitch over the wall in left for her team-best sixth home run of the year and a 4-0 Fullerton lead.
Cal Poly left runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings and four of the first five frames before the Titans added to their lead in the sixth, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring twice on a two-run single by Carter to make it 6-0. Fullerton capped the scoring with a single run in the seventh on an RBI groundout by pinch-hitter Courtney Snyder, the first of her career, for the final tally.
Redshirt sophomore Gabby Aragon, who has also been sidelined due to injury for the first two months of the season, got her first hit of the year in the sixth and also drew a walk in the seventh.