Cougar Softball Closes Out Season
April 28, 2007

Complete Box Scores »» Game 1   Game 2

After a terrific win on Tuesday to get into double-digits on the season, Cougar softball closed out its season on Saturday with a pair of losses, 7-3 and 5-2, to UCSD. CSUSM finishes the year with a 10-31 record.

The Cougars lost game one 7-3, scoring all three of its runs late. Starter Erica Coelho kept the game close early, but a 4-run fourth put the game out of reach for CSUSM. UCSD scored all four of those runs before making an out, but Coelho was able to rally to limit the damage, and went on to hold the opposition scoreless the rest of the contest.

CSUSM’s runs came in the sixth, with Lauren Turner, Tasha Stokes, and Holly Russell recording RBI’s. For Turner, the RBI was especially important, as it was her first of the season. She would come around later in the inning to score her first run as well.

Russell closed out the season as one of the team’s hottest hitters. After batting under .200 for a good portion of the first couple months of the season, she finished with a very respectable .272 average with a team-high .417 slugging percentage.

Game two saw the Cougars jump out to a 2-0 first inning lead. A leadoff walk to Erica Coelho and Danielle Tucker put a pair of runners on base. Elizabeth Bush hit into a fielder’s choice, and an error by the first baseman allowed the Cougars’ first run to score. The second would cross the plate on a Holly Russell groundout.

Three UCSD pitchers would combine to hold CSUSM scoreless for the rest of the game. However, starter Amanda Sanchez was nearly able to hold the lead anyway. While she’s not going to dazzle the opposition with great stuff, Sanchez has terrific control and works the ball very well within the strike zone. For five innings she baffled UCSD, surrendering just one run while walking nobody.

But in the sixth, the Tritons would get to her. A leadoff bunt single and costly error would put runners at the corners, a runs would come in on a base hit and a double by the next two hitters. UCSD would tack on the 5th run later in the inning, and hold on for the 5-2 win.

With a full season under their belts, expect the very young Cougar team to improve on that 10-31 record in a big way in 2008. A full season review will be posted in the coming weeks.