TURLOCK, Calif. – The San Francisco State softball team made it five-straight victories on Friday, opening up the Tournament of Champions with a 2-1 win over RV Concordia (Calif.) before falling to Montana State Billings 4-3.
Michelle Castro led off the bottom of the first of game one with a hit-by-pitch and then stole second and third, giving her 24 steals on the year and moving her into t-3
rd all-time in program history for stolen bases in a season. Two batters later, she scored after Haley Nunes reached on an error to make it 1-0. Concordia (16-7) knotted the score in the top of the second on Sarah Kretschma's RBI single to left.
Lindsey Cassidy retired the Eagles in order in the third, fourth, and sixth innings en route to her complete game, three strikeout performance. In the bottom of the sixth, Nunes singled to short and advanced to second on
Katie Rohrer's walk.
Sara Higa flied out to center, moving Nunes to third, and Nunes scored on a throwing error by the catcher prompted by Rohrer's steal to make it 2-1. The Eagles would but runners on second and third with two outs looking to tie things up, but Cassidy got Sydni Dix to ground out to Higa to end the game.
SF State (13-17) took on Montana State Billings in game two, and took a 1-0 advantage in the third.
Savannah Ozuna led off with a single up the middle, and was replaced by pinch runner
Marielena Torres. Torres stole second, went to third on a throwing error, and scored on a muffed throw on a failed pickoff attempt for the first run.
The Yellowjackets (11-14) tied things up in the fourth on Brittanee Fisher's solo home run to right, and took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on Heather Tracy's one-run single to center field. Montana State Billings would add another in the frame to take a 3-1 lead late.
In the top of the sixth,
Mallory Cleveland knocked a home run to right to cut it to one.
Madison Collins then singled through the left side, and advanced to second on Ozuna's groundout. This brought up
Angelica Terrel, who plated Collins on a single up the middle which tied things up 3-3.
The Yellowjackets would get the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a bases-loaded single by Amanda Barham that scored Kelsee Bushell to take the 4-3 victory.
Karla Soto tossed 6.1 innings in game two, striking out a season-high seven.
Up Next
The Gators continue Tournament of Champions action tomorrow as they take on Saint Martins and Western Washington starting at 9 a.m. Live stats will be provided, and be sure to follow @sfstate_sb on Twitter for updates.