RECORD NIGHT UNDER THE LIGHTS

Thursday, February 17

Riverside

4:00 PM

California Baptist University

Southern Oregon University

RECORD NIGHT UNDER THE LIGHTS

2/18/2011 6:26:00 AM | Softball

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Kendall Gorham stole the show on another power-packed day for No. 1 California Baptist University, as she became the career home runs leader with two shots in a pair of games at the Ringor So Cal Smash.

Gorham's first homer of the day came in a 9-1 five inning victory over Southern Oregon. The junior from Riverside then hit her 38th career bomb in an 8-2 win over Davenport, in the Lancers' final game of the day. Gorham, who already holds the single-season record with 23 homers last season, passed Ashley Boyd with her fifth home run this season.

“It felt really good to break the record,” said Gorham. “I did actually know how many I needed and that I was close coming into today. I tried not to think about it or let it affect me, but it was in the back of my head.”

The Lancers sent five shots out of John C Funk Stadium Thursday, including a pair from Sloan McHann.

“This whole team is swinging the bats pretty well right now,” said Head Coach Mike Smith. “We have a very deep team and everyone is putting in a lot of work both on the field and in the cages to get better.”

Gorham's record-breaking homer broke open a 4-2 game which the Lancer's led against Davenport in the fourth inning. She sent the 1-1 pitch over the fence to right-center, driving in three runs, to give her six on the day.

Nicole Shoemaker broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning with a long ball of her own in the nightcap.

Emma Holden got the win against Davenport, throwing six innings of two-hit ball to move to 5-0 on the season. Fittingly Gorham came in and pitched a perfect seventh to close the game.

The Lancers scored five runs in the fourth inning of their opener, to take a 9-1 lead against Southern Oregon and Courtney McGee came in to get the final three outs as CBU finished the mercy-rule victory. Tory Ferreira pitched four innings and gave up just one hit and no walks to also move to 5-0 on the season.

McHann went 2-for-3, driving in three runs and scoring three more on her third and fourth homers of the season.

Gorham knocked in a total of six runs on 3-of-6 hitting Thursday. Along with McHann, April Vasquez drove in three runs.

“It was very cool to see Kendall break the record today,” said Smith. “It's a testament to her and how hard she works. She is a great asset to this program and still has a lot of time to add to her legacy. Kendall's the type of player that leads by example and is not caught up in a the personal records.”

The Lancers move to 12-0 on the young season.

With two more days of tournament play scheduled and rain looming, the Ringor So Cal Smash schedule has been altered. CBU will play its first game against Simpson at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Southern Oregon will play Davenport at noon and then Simpson at 2 p.m. The Lancers finish out play at 4 p.m. against Davenport. The bracket play schedule for Saturday has not yet been changed.