California Baptist University
Lewis University
Good Things Come In Threes
2/11/2012 5:37:00 AM | Softball
CBU defeated Lewis 5-3 in the opening game of the day before getting a thrilling come from behind 9-7 victory over Western Oregon in the team's afternoon game. Emma Holden helped polish things off in the nightcap with a 4-1 win over Central Washington.
CBU looked to be on the verge of splitting the opening two games, as the Lancers trailed 6-3 heading into the sixth inning.
Two innings left ended up being more than enough time for a comeback as it would turn out.
After Andie Banuelos and Mara Rodriguez drove in runs to pull the Lancers within one, the bases stood loaded for Gorham. As she has so many times before the Lancers' slugger knew exactly what to do in that situation, launching her first homer of the season, 52nd of her career, to clear the bases.
After Western Oregon scored in the seventh, Holden came in and shut the door to preserve the 9-7 win.
"It was like two different games out there for us," said Head Coach Bill Baber. "We were unfocused in the beginning and just couldn't get anything going. I told them we had to start hitting line drives and they responded. They started hitting some shots and everything came together. Even the home runs we hit were line drives. I was very impressed that they didn't give up."
Sloan McHann had also launched a shot in the game, pulling CBU to within two after the Wolves had taken a 5-1 early lead. CBU would strand Gorham on second in the inning and give a run back in the bottom half to trail 6-3 after five.
It was Willingham's homer in the opener that broke open the offense for the day, as the CBU rookie hit a three-run bomb in the third inning to put CBU up 5-0.
"Kailey absolutely crushed that ball," said Baber. "That really loosened our team up because we seemed nervous to start the day out for some reason. She really had a great day all around for us."
Holden threw a complete game six-hitter to record the win. She would get two wins on the day, also taking a W in the final game, and a save for CBU. Holden is now 3-0 on the year. Tory Ferreira got the win in the second game of the day.
Willingham put the Lancers up 1-0 against Central Washington with a sacrifice fly to score Tina Galinato and another sacrifice fly from McHann scored Marshean August, putting the Lancers ahead 2-0.
Danae Leiser hit a pinch-hit homer, tacking on the second of two runs CBU got for the 4-1 win.
"That last game was the Emma we are used to seeing," said Baber. "She didn't have a great outing in the first game, but came back and pitched brilliantly in the last one. The whole team was very focused and played good defense in last game, which was great to see especially after a long three-game day."
Holden also went the distance in the nightcap.
The Lancers move to 5-0 with the trio of wins.
CBU has two more games at the Las Vegas invitational tomorrow. The Lancers face Cal State San Bernardino in the morning and then Notre Dame de Namur in the afternoon.
