Cougar Softball Sweeps Occidental in Convincing Fashion
2/16/08

Box Score (Game One)
Box Score (Game Two)

Cougar softball continued its season of strong play on Saturday, handily defeating Occidental in both ends of a double-header by a combined score of 15-0.

The Cougar squad was firing on all cylinders for both contests, winning game one by a score of 4-0 and game two 11-0.  The wins boost CSUSM to an impressive 7-4 on the season, just three wins shy of last year’s total.  Occidental falls to 0-3.

Predictably, the pitchers were the stars for the Cougars on Saturday.  Ashley Salvino, who has been outstanding this year, had her best outing yet in game one.  She went the distance, allowing just four hits over seven innings, while surrendering three walks and no runs.  Salvino struck out 10 hitters, the highest total for any Cougar pitcher this season.

In game two, Brenna Sandberg and Chanel Rose combined to hurl a two-hit shutout, with each pitcher allowing just one.  Sandberg started and was outstanding, allowing just one base runner in five innings of work, striking out five.  With the game in hand, Rose came in and finished it off with a pair of scoreless frames.

The Cougar lineup held up its end of the bargain as well.  Game one, though, was a pitchers’ duel until the end.  Occidental starter Kelli Moriguchi matched Salvino for the most part, surrendering just one unearned run through six innings.  With a tenuous 1-0 lead going into the seventh, the Cougar lineup finally caught up with her.  Erica Coelho and Melissa Lerno led off the inning with singles, and Elizabeth boomed a triple to left to plate them both.  Shanti Poston followed that up with an RBI single, extending the lead to a much more comfortable 4-0.  Salvino closed the game in emphatic fashion, striking out the final two hitters to preserve her first shutout in Cougar blue.

Game two would not be nearly that close.  The Cougar lineup pounced on Occidental’s pitching early, as CSUSM’s first six hitters reached base; a streak which included RBI doubles by Marly Barth and Holly Russell.  After a pitching change, Lise Leibl added an RBI single, and the Cougars were out to an early 5-0 lead.

Behind Sandberg’s mastery on the mound, it would be smooth sailing for the remaining six innings.  A sixth inning Leilani Madrigal RBI single following a Poston double made the game 6-0.  Then in the seventh, CSUSM once again opened the floodgates, tallying five more runs.  Poston blasted yet another double, plating two runs, and Leibl followed her up with a 2-RBI double of her own.  Morizi added an RBI single, making the score 11-0.  Rose stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the shutout, and secure the impressive victory for the Cougars.