Turlock, Calif.--- SF State's pitching duo of Ashley Jackson (Vallejo, California, St. Patrick's-St. Vincent) and Kendra Wood (San Jose, California, Lynbrook) keyed the Gators' 2-0 start in Day One of the Tournament of Champions, presented by Mizuno in Turlock today. In their first game of the day Jackson struck out a school record 16 batters in SF State's 3-1 extra-inning win over the Central Washington Wildcats (16-10) to improve her record to 10-7 this season. Then in SF State's second game of the Day, Kendra Wood pitched a complete game also in the Gators' 7-2 win over the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders (7-25).

            In game one, Jackson pitched eight innings while giving up just one run, six hits, and walking two in the win. Freshman Colleen Nilles (Simi Valley, California, Royal) hit her second home run of the season, a walk-off two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth. Nilles hit the home run with the count 2-2 and two outs to give the Gators their fifth win in a row.

          Lea Cardenas (Sanger, California, Sanger) scored SF State's first run in the second inning after reaching base on a lead-off single. She scored when Monica Amburgey (Monterey, California, Monterey) reached on a fielding error by the Wildcats, who are currently ranked 9^th in the NCAA Division II West Region. The Wildcats tied the game in the sixth inning on a one-out RBI single by Liz Wallace which scored pinch-runner Devin Larson. 

            Central Washington had a chance to take the lead in its half of the eighth as the Wildcats had a runner on third with only one out, but Jackson struck out the next batters. 

            Then in their 7-2 win over the Crusaders, Wood (3-5) struck out 7 batters while walking two and gave up six hits and two runs en route to her third complete game of the season for SF State (19-17).

            Kelsey Wood (San Jose, California, Lynbrook) two-out RBI single in the Gator half of the first put SF State on the scoreboard first. The Crusaders tied the game at one on Courtnee Crane's two-out RBI single that scored Arielle Chao in the top of the fifth.

            SF State took the lead for good on Cardenas' two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth which scored Karolyn Gubbine (Richmond, California, Pinole Valley) and Danielle Chapman (San Jose, California, San Jose City College). The Gators broke the game open with a four-run sixth which was capped by a bases-clearing triple by Gubbine. Northwest Nazarene's scored the games' final run on a one-out bases loaded walk to Crane, but Kendra Wood got the final two Crusaders on a line-out to third and a ground ball to second to record SF State's fifth straight win and sixth out of its last eight games.

            The Gators will have three games tomorrow in Day Two of the Tournament of Champions' bracket play. SF State will face Western Washington at 8:15 tomorrow morning on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus and Western Oregon at 10:15am. The Gators will finish off their day with a 3:45pm game against Saint Martin's at Pedretti Park.