California Baptist University
24-21, 11-6
Seattle U
18-25, 10-8
Lancers Earn The Series Win With Two Thrilling Friday Night Victories
4/19/2024 10:11:00 PM | Softball
RIVERSIDE - Friday night at Funk Stadium was a spectacular show of grit and abilities by the California Baptist University softball team as they swept the doubleheader 2-0 and 4-3. The wins improve CBU's record to 25-21 (12-5 WAC), while Seattle falls to 18-26 (10-9 WAC). More importantly, it creates a two-and-a-half game buffer in the conference standings between CBU in second and a three-way tie for third between UT Arlington (10-8), Utah Valley (10-8), and Seattle U (10-9).
Friday was a split between Merissa Borkowski and Presley Hosick in game one and Sydney Soto and Morgan McConnell in game two. Each duo had incredible nights filled with highlight plays.
Borkowski recorded a hit in each game, pushing her hit streak to a career-best 16 games, one game shy of tying the Division I era record of 17 set by teammate Priscilla Estrada a season ago. Borkowski's top contribution on the day was keeping the game level with an incredible home run robbery in the fifth inning.
Hosick benefitted the most from that incredible play, but her whole game was stellar as she completed her fourth complete game of the season and her first shutout of 2024. The seven-inning blanking of the Redhawks dropped her season ERA to 2.54, which is second in the conference.
Soto seemed to be playing with an extra gear in game two, getting CBU on the board with her first home run of the season while also making multiple defensive plays to thwart Seattle every time they tried to start a rally. On a normal day, Borkowski's robbery would have been the far-and-away best play of the day, but Soto made an incredible leaping grab in the seventh for the second out, saving extra bases while holding onto the ball while slamming into the center field wall at full speed.
McConnell bounced back in a strong way after allowing two earned in the first on her way to posting her conference-leading eighth complete game of the season.
GAME ONE: CBU 2 - SU 0
The Redhawks claimed eight hits in the opener, even having runners in scoring position in five of the seven innings, but every time Hosick was threatened, she dug deep and forced four relatively easy outs and one strikeout to end the threat.
On the flip side, it took the Lancers until the fifth inning to move past first base, but when they did in the sixth, they made it count. The first run was scored after two consecutive hits to begin the inning, which led to a one-out RBI bunt single from pinch hitter Ashlee Annett, who brought in Matti Severns. Two batters later, Soto sent one into left center, scoring pinch runner Bobbiann Pratt from third easily to reach the final scoreline.
GAME TWO: CBU 4 - SU 3
Seattle strategized successfully between the two games, coming out of the gate hot with two scores on back-to-back hits in the top of the first to claim a 2-0 lead. The Lancers would level the game in the bottom of the second as Soto launched her first home run of the season, a two-out bomb on an 0-2 count, that also brought in Severns for the pair.
Both teams would go three-up, three-down in the third inning before the Redhawks took back their lead with an unearned run in the fourth. This time, CBU didn't waste any time answering the SU score. Kalena Burns and Kate Penberthy would open the inning with back-to-back singles before Severns came up big again, laying down a sacrifice bunt to score pinch runner Cayla Crawford, who used some top-tier evasive maneuvers to score the tying run. One batter later, Soto put another single into the grass, scoring Penberthy for what would eventually become the game-winning hit.
Another incredible defensive play from Soto would end the fifth inning as the Redhawks threatened again.
Saturday's series finale is set for 1:00 p.m. at Funk Stadium as the Lancers look to sweep Seattle U in a three-game series for the first time in program history.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hosick, Presley (9-4)
L: Nicola Simpson (4-7)
Batting:
2B: Taylor Fitch 1 ; Nicola Simpson 1
Batting:
2B: Soto, Sydney 1
RBI: Annett, Ashlee 1 ; Soto, Sydney 1
SH: Penberthy, Kate 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Severns, Matti 1 ; Pratt, Bobbiann 1
