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Salvino Throws No-Hitter, Barth Hits Two
Homers, and Cougar Softball Rolls to Two Wins
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Box Score (Game One) Cal State San Marcos softball
improved to a very impressive 14-6 this year on Saturday, on the
strength of a pair of routs at the Sun West Tournament.
The Cougars dispatched of Bethany 8-0 in the morning, and
capped off the day with a 9-0 win over Northwest Christian. But that wasn’t the biggest
story of the day. No,
Ashley Salvino stole the show with a no-hit performance – the
first in school history – against Bethany.
While the game was called after five innings due to the mercy
rule, Salvino did not allow any base hits, walking just two while
striking out three. A freshman, Salvino has been
outstanding this season, and this is another item for her
already-impressive pitching resume. She had plenty of backup on
Saturday, as the Cougar lineup put the game out of reach early.
Shanti Poston, Holly Russell, and Mimi Krutein all had two
hits; Marly Barth and Russell scored a pair of runs each; and Erica
Coelho drove in three en route to the easy 8-0 victory. Though the afternoon didn’t
bring another no-hitter, it brought just about everything else from
the morning game. The
Cougar lineup once again made it a short contest, banging out nine
runs early on to shorten the game to five innings. On the mound, Chanel Rose was
her usual effective self. After
a rough outing to start the season, Rose has been outstanding, and
she continued that trend continued on Saturday.
Rose pitched all five innings, allowing five hits and no
runs. She walked one
and struck out one. The Cougar defense matched the
pitching performances in both contests.
CSUSM did not make a single error on the day. The game’s story, however, was
Marly Barth. She
kick-started the Cougar offense early, leading off the second inning
with a booming home run to right center.
It’s the first homer of the season for the Cougars*, whose
home field is less friendly to hitters than Petco Park. But Barth wasn’t done.
After Nicolette Nassif extended the lead with a two-RBI
single later in the second, Barth came up again with one out in the
third. She promptly
crushed another home run to centerfield, giving CSUSM a 4-0 lead. Lise Leibl, Malarie Barnard,
Kimi Villalpando, and Elizabeth Bush all went on to tally RBI’s as
the Cougars cruised to the 9-0 victory. *Upon further review, Barth's home runs were actually the second and third of the season for CSUSM. Melissa Lerno hit the first at Cal Baptist. |