California advances to NCAA D-II final four
OKLAHOMA CITY – The California University women’s softball team lost a nail-biter to Dixie State, 1-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Championships Thursday.
After staving off elimination twice Saturday, the Vulcans will get a second shot at the Red Storm and unbeaten pitcher Michelle Duncan at 3:30 p.m. today. Duncan (31-0) has pitched a pair of shutouts in Dixie State’s first two wins, lowering her season ERA to 1.16.
California (42-12) reached the final four with a thrilling, 7-6 victory over Central Missouri in eight innings, following that up with a 2-1 win against Indianapolis later in the day. The Vulcans must beat Dixie State (50-7) twice today to reach Monday’s championship game.
In the opener, the Vulcans overcame back-to-back home runs by Lauren Mabe and Jakki Prater in the fifth inning that gave Central Missouri State a 6-0 lead.
That forced a pitching change by California head coach Rick Bertagnoli, who pulled starter Alex Sagl for Meghan Uher.
Uher limited Central Missouri (49-16) to two hits over the next three innings and California’s offense finally came alive.
The Vulcans scored three runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Kaity Finley, run-scoring double by Emily Price and a sacrifive fly from Lindsay Reicoff, then tied the game with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh, the final coming on a two-out single by Hailey Wilson that scored Natalya Smarra.
Sagl returned to the circle to start the eighth after Uher allowed a leadoff single and stolen base that put the go-ahead run on second. After a sacrifice moved the runner to third with one out, she recorded a strikeout and popout to second to end the threat.
Erica Vallecorsa led off the bottom of the eight with a double and was sacrificed to third. After a lineout to second was unable to score her, Vallecorsa scored the winning run on a single to right by Finley.
Against Indianapolis (48-15), Sagl went the distance to improve to 29-5, allowing just one run on eight hits.
Reicoff drove in both runs for the Vulcans, who had just two hits, with a single in the bottom of the third inning that scored Sinclair, who singled, and Finley, who had reached base on a walk.