TURLOCK, Calif. – Jordan Flora doubled home Missy Corral with the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Cal State Stanislaus a 6-5 victory over visiting San Francisco State in the second game of a California Collegiate doubleheader Saturday at Warrior Softball Field. 

 

With the loss, the Gators finish the 2011 campaign with an 18-35 overall record and an 11-25 mark in conference play after CSUS (21-30, 14-22 CCAA) posted a 6-0 triumph in game one to even the weekend at two games apiece.

 

In the nightcap, the Gators took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but the Warriors plated three runs to eventually force extra innings, when Corral smacked a one-out double in the eighth, setting the stage for Flora's winning hit. Reliever Brittani Weatherford (11-17), who entered in the top of the frame, retired the side in order to pick up the victory, while SF State starter Kendra Wood (2-4) took the loss after allowing all six runs on six hits and six walks in 7 1/3 innings.

 

The Gators grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the first when Lea Cardenas roped a base hit to bring in Heather Jensen and Kylie Herrada, who both reached on infield singles and advanced on Alyssa Esquibel's sacrifice bunt. 

 

After Brittany Balanesi's lead-off homer in the second tightened the score, SF State responded with three markers in the third on an RBI double by Cardenas and run-scoring singles by Wood and Summer Powell to extend its lead to 5-1. The outburst chased CSUS starter Kristan Burns, who gave up all five runs on six hits and two walks.

 

Burns, however, got an important run back for the Warriors before exiting as she drove in Sarah Locarnini with a two-out base hit in the bottom of the third to narrow the gap to 5-2.

 

The score remained unchanged until the sixth when Balanesi led off with a double and later raced home on pinch-hitter Kaitlin Goulart's one-out single. After a strikeout, Locarnini drew a walk and Corral followed with a two-run double to tie the game at 5-5.

 

Esquibel singled through the left side to start the seventh, but was shortly erased on a fielder's choice, while the CSUS' second reliever of the contest, Alyssa Coehlo, received a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning.

 

Cardenas, who had two hits along with Esquibel, finished with three RBI for the game, giving her a final career total of 106 in that statistic, which ranks third in Gator history.

 

SF State, which pounded out a combined 30 hits in Friday's twin bill against the Warriors, was limited to just four in Saturday's opener as Weatherford came away with the complete game shutout for the host team.

 

CSUS tallied four markers in the bottom of the first, highlighted by Brittany Rickles' two-run infield single, and later received a two-run homer from Goulart in the fifth to close out the scoring.

 

Ashley Jackson (10-17), who pitched her final game in a Gator uniform, was saddled with the loss after yielding all six runs on 10 hits and two walks in six innings of work.

 

Despite the setback, Jackson ended her stellar four-year collegiate career among the elite pitchers in SF State history, finishing second on the school's all-time charts with 52 victories and 500 strikeouts, while her 2.32 career earned run average and 668 innings rank third.

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score