Four CCAA teams opened play on Thursday in the NCAA Softball West Regional. There are two sites with four teams apiece, and they will compete this week to see who will advance to the two-team Super Regional.
Cal State East Bay and San Francisco State served as regional hosts.
CAL STATE EAST BAY 3, SONOMA STATE 0 [Box score]
No. 1 seed Cal State East Bay scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to defeat No. 8 seed Sonoma State, 3-0.
With one out, Annelise Garcia singled and came around to score on Alexa Zumstein’s double. Jeslyn Cuellar followed with a triple to plate Zumstein, and she then scored on a sac fly by Cynthia Carrillo.
Before its sixth-inning rally, the Pioneers had not had a hit since the second inning.
Cal State East Bay’s starter Marissa Quintero took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. The Seawolves' Kaiya Dickens broke up the no-hitter with a single to shortstop to lead off the seventh, but Qunitero got the next three batters in order to shut down any hint of the rally.
Quintero pitched a complete game, allowing no runs and only one hit, to improve to 19-4 on the season. She walked four and struck out three.
Sonoma State’s Charlie Johnson (22-16) also went the distance. She was cruising until running into trouble in the sixth. Johnson finished with six innings pitched, four hits, and three runs allowed. She walked three and struck out one.
Cal State East Bay will advance to play Western Washington in the winner’s bracket on Friday, May 9. Sonoma State will face Concordia in an elimination game.
CAL STATE SAN MARCOS 3, BIOLA 2 [Box score]
Paige Donnelly made sure her teammates would leave the field happy as the senior came through with a walk-off single to lift No. 3 Cal State San Marcos to a 3-2 comeback win over No. 6 seed Biola.
Biola took the early lead with two runs in the first inning. CSUSM got one back in the bottom of the first when Donnelly scored on a wild pitch. However, it would remain at 2-1 into the fifth. Donnelly would also get this run-scoring rally started. She singled to lead off the inning, and was lifted for pinch runner Hannah Tandy, who came around to score from second base on a two-out single by Delany Prater.
In the bottom of the seventh, Donnelly would play the hero. After No. 9 hitter Makenzie Guiliano singled to lead off the inning and was sacrificed to second base, Donnelly came to the plate. The senior first baseman went right back up the middle on a 2-2 pitch, to bring in Guiliano with the game-winning run.
Dahlia Fink earned the win in relief of Sloss. Fink went one scoreless inning, allowing one hit and one walk to improve to 11-3. Sloss pitched the first six innings, allowing two hits and two runs (one earned). She walked four and struck out one.
DJ Symons pitched a complete game for Biola. She went 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned). She walked five and struck out three.
Cal State San Marcos will play No. 2 seed San Francisco State in the winner’s bracket on Friday, May 9.
SAN FRANCISCO STATE 5, SAINT MARTIN'S 3 [Box score]
San Francisco State scored in each of the first three innings to earn a 5-3 win over Saint Martin’s.
Mari Takeda Bajan pitched all seven innings, allowing six hits and three runs (one earned). She walked four and struck out five to improve to 19-6 on the season.
The two first inning runs for SFSU both scored on errors. Marley Gonzales extended the lead to 3-1 with a run-scoring double in the second. Rylee McDaniel added a solo home run in the third and pinch runner Emily Madrigal would come around to score on a wild pitch to give the Gators the 5-1 lead.
The Saints would get only one more good scoring opportunity against Takeda Bajan. In the sixth, the first four batters of the inning reached but Takeda Bajan was able to work around trouble to limit the damage to two runs and maintain the Gators’ lead (5-3).