LAKE ELSINORE, CA- The Cougars continued play in California on Tuesday with a pair of contests against #3 Western Washington and Northwest Nazarene. After suffering a tough 14-4 defeat at the hands of the Vikings, CCU bounced back against the Nighthawks with a thrilling 3-2 victory in extra innings on a
Kat Hanson walkoff home run.
GAME ONE
The Vikings jumped ahead early and never looked back, proving why they are a top 3 team in the country. After scoring two runs off a homer in the first, WWU tacked on four more in the second to take a commanding lead.
Two more runs for the Vikings in the fourth gave them full command as they eventually led 14-0. CCU tried to rally in the fifth off of RBI singles from
Sarah Dollerschell and
Meghan Sidell, while
Kat Hanson roped an RBI double and
Arriana Wright registered a sac fly in the eventual 14-4 run-rule defeat.
Lisa Liddell had a tough outing with some bad luck, allowing seven runs with only three of them being earned.
GAME TWO
Looking to bounce back in the second contest of the day, CCU faced an early deficit when Northwest Nazarene scored a run in the first to take a 1-0 lead. After several scoreless innings, the Cougars tied things in the fourth on a sac fly from
Felesha LePenske to plate Wright.
The two teams battled from there with the score knotted at 1-1, as the defense and pitching held up into extra innings. With the international base runner on second to start the eighth, NNU took advantage by moving the runner to third with a sacrifice bunt and scoring her on a sac fly to make it 2-1.
Needing a rally in the bottom of the eighth, CCU employed the same strategy as the Nighthawks with a sac bunt to advance the runner to third. Hanson stepped up with a runner on third and blasted her first home run of the year as the team came streaming onto the field to celebrate the walkoff 3-2 victory.
LePenske was excellent in the circle, going the full eight innings with eight strikeouts to claim the victory and improve to 3-0 on the season. Hanson came up clutch when her team needed her, blasting the decisive hit that left the yard to give jer the team the important victory.
The Cougars will now set their sights on the D2 West Coast Challenge at the same fields they played on today in Lake Elsinore at Rosetta Canyon Sports Park. Day one pits CCU against Cal State Dominguez Hills and Concordia University Irvine on February 6 at 3 and 5:30 p.m. MST.
