RIVERSIDE - California Baptist softball proved a worthy host on Wednesday as Western Athletic Conference Tournament play opened in Riverside. The sixth-seeded Lancers took the opening contest against 7-seed UT Arlington 4-1 and upset three-seed Southern Utah 9-3.
GAME ONE: CBU 4 - UTA 1
The tournament opener pitted the Lancers against a reeling UTA team that had dropped five of its last six games. It didn't take long for the Lancer offense to come alive and with two outs in the bottom of the first. After Priscilla Estrada reached on an error and Ashlee Annett was hit by the first pitch she saw, Kalena Burns made the UTA pitcher pay with a laced two-RBI double down the left line to put the Lady Mavs on their heels.
Burns was at it again in the third, with Annett and Kate Penberthy on first and second, respectively. This time, Burns' was a few feet short of another homer and had to settle for another standup, two-RBI double, this time to left center.
Burns' big day would carry the CBU offense while her fellow senior pitcher,
Morgan McConnell, tossed a gem from the circle. McConnell earned win number nine this season by holding the Lady Mavs to just one earned on five hits with six strikeouts. McConnell was cruising early, taking a no-hitter into the fourth and the shutout into the seventh. The Lancer vet proudly would settle for her ninth complete game of the season.
GAME TWO: CBU 9 - SUU 3
The Lancers would rest up for a few hours and pick up right where they left off in the four o'clock game against No. 3 Southern Utah. The Lancers again started the contest with two runs in the first; this time, Annett and Sydney Soto connected on the RBI hits, scoring Matti Severns and Estrada. The game would become a pitchers dual until the sixth inning, trading a few hits sporadically until Valerie Alvarez singled and scored Jasmine Goins to make it a 3-0 game. Small ball in the bottom half of the same inning would undo the Lancer advantage as SUU hit five singles to scratch across three runs of their own to level the score.
The Lancers would answer loudly in the top of the seventh. Three of the first four batters would work walks to load the bases before Alvarez stepped back into the batter's box. She would work a full count before sending the seventh pitch of the at-bat into left field, scoring Laci Lopez and Penberthy, making it 5-3, and opening the floodgates. Stevie Robison would take another walk to load the bases again, and the Malachy Russell-Milles, Severns, Estrada, and Penberthy would all push across another run, either by single, walk, or sac fly, to build an insurmountable 9-3 lead. The Thunderbirds would put runners on first and second with two outs, and a groundout to the circle would finish the job.
Lili Arana gave CBU 5.1 strong innings to start the game, allowing eight hits and inducing a pair of inning-ending double plays to avoid much damage.
Annika Hollingsworth would eventually earn the win with 1.2 innings pitched, shutting down the TBirds to just two hits and no runs allowed for her 10th win of the year.
CBU continues on with another early morning tilt, this time against two-seed Tarleton State at 10:00 a.m. If the Lancers win that game, they will have a well-deserved rest until they play the winner of GCU/Seattle U at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. In the event of a loss, CBU will move to the consolation bracket to face the Utah Valley at 4:00 pm on Thursday.
