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Box Score 2 HAYWARD, Calif. – Pitcher
Lauren Zweigle hurled a complete game,
Sara Holdridge hit her 22nd career home run, and
Meli Sanchez delivered a game-winning walk-off hit in the eighth inning to lead the Pioneer women's softball team to a 4-3 extra-inning victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. The Toros took the second game and 10-0 win, earning Cal State East Bay a split on Senior Day.
After dropping three of four in the series, the Pioneers are 13-29 for the season and 8-20 in CCAA play. The Toros have an overall record of 26-19 and a conference mark of 13-15.
“That was a great emotional win for us,” Pioneer Head Coach
Barbara Pierce said. “We came out with a lot of fight and emotion for our seniors, who were very instrumental in the first game victory.”
Zweigle (9-14) tossed her 15th complete game of the season, allowing three runs on eight hits, with three walks and seven strikeouts. She threw 143 pitches in eight innings.
East Bay totaled eight hits in the game. For the second time this season, Sanchez had three of them.
Shaunna Purkey was 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, and
Chelsie Kakela cracked a two-run homer.
The Pioneers grabbed a 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Sanchez opened the inning with a single. After one out, Kakela hit her first home run of the season.
East Bay's lead with short-lived as the Toros took a 3-2 advantage on a three-run home run by Adrianna Sanchez. For Sanchez, it was her team-leading 15th home run of the season and second of the series.
Holdridge belted her team-leading third homer of the season in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game.
After retiring six straight hitters, Zweigle got in a jam in the top of the eighth as the Toros loaded the bases with one out. Zweigle responded by striking out Jessica Hall and getting Alyssa Fernandez to fly out for the final out.
“It was awesome to see Lauren pitch out of that jam in the eighth on Senior Day,” Pierce said. “She's been doing that throughout her four-year career.”
The Pioneers won the game with a run in the bottom of the eighth. Purkey led off the inning with an infield hit and advanced to third on two groundouts. Sanchez followed with an infield single to score Purkey with the winning run.
“Meli had a great game,” Pierce said. “She's really coming into her own during the second half of the season.”
Cal State Dominguez Hills took control early in the second game, scoring four runs in the first. Veronica Vazquez had the big blow with a two-run double. The Toros would go on to score twice in the second and add three more runs in the third.
East Bay stranded a pair of runners in the first and fifth innings. Holdridge finished 2-for-2 at the plate, and Zweigle came in to hold the Toros scoreless for 1.2 innings.
Next up, the Pioneers will hit the road for a four-game series against Cal State Stanislaus beginning on April 19.
