#21 CSUSM Softball Swept by #2 Point Loma
4/15/08

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

Cougar softball has been playing great lately, but ran into a buzz-saw on Tuesday at Point Loma.  CSUSM was swept by the #2 Sea Lions, losing 8-0 and 2-0.

CSUSM’s roster is talented enough to compete with just about any team in the nation.  It’s also a roster that features just one senior.  Unfortunately, the latter proved to be the deciding factor on Tuesday, as the Cougars shot themselves in the foot in game one before giving a spirited effort in game two.

Starter Chanel Rose was the victim of three killer errors in the first inning of game one.  Point Loma – who, as the #2 ranked team in the nation, doesn’t exactly need the help – plated five unearned runs in that frame on just three hits, effectively ending the game before it ever really got going. 

Sea Lions starter Tyler Lent pitched five shutout innings of two-hit ball to pick up her 16^th win of the season.  Only Leilani Madrigal and Shanti Poston tallied hits for CSUSM.  The game was called after the top of the fifth due to the mercy rule.

To the Cougars’ credit, they showed resilience and rebounded nicely.  After the disastrous first inning of game one, the squad didn’t commit a single error for the rest of that contest, or in game two. 

In that second game, Cougar starter Brenna Sandberg turned in her usual solid performance and kept her team in the game.  Sandberg limited PLNU’s dangerous lineup to two runs on seven hits, while walking one and striking out two over the full six innings of work.

But Point Loma’s pitching duo of Katie Nagler and Melissa Gomez proved too much.  They shut down the Cougar lineup, yielding only three hits.  Poston, Madrigal, and Karen Morizi were the only Cougars to record base hits.

CSUSM’s best opportunities came early.  In the first, Morizi reached on an error, Poston drew a walk, and Melissa Lerno walked as well to load the bases with two outs.  But a groundout ended the threat.  In the third inning, the Cougars had runners at the corners with one out – but a potential run was cut down at the plate, and a strikeout ended the inning.