Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BRISBANE, Calif. – Cal State East Bay equaled its season long winning streak at six games following 2-1 and 8-3 road wins over Academy of Art on Wednesday at Mission Blue Field. The Pioneers had a flair for the dramatic, scoring the game-winning run in their final team at-bat in both contests.

"We picked up two really good wins today. Emily was great in game one and kept us in it when are bats were a little bit cold. It's always good to win a game that goes into extra innings because it shows the true character of the group," said East Bay Head Coach Barbara Pierce. "Jordan threw well and our hitters exploded in the 7th inning to come from behind and put it away. Marisa was hot all day at the plate and Sherri gave us the spark we needed in both games," praised Pierce.

Cal St. East Bay 2, Academy of Art 1 – F/8 Inn.
Extra innings were needed to decide game one after East Bay's Kelsey LaVaute and Academy of Art's Lauren Stover traded RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively. Tiebreaker rules went into effect with each team starting its offensive half of the inning with a runner on second base.

Sherri Morioka stood on second base and watched as the first two Pioneers flew out to the left side of the field. The last pitch of a four-pitch walk issued to LaVaute got away allowing Morioka to advance to third with two outs. A wild pitch on the ensuing at bat allowed both runners to advance giving East Bay the lead heading into the bottom half of the frame.

Academy of Art advanced its runner to third base with one out. Two of the four batters yet to record a hit against East Bay starting pitcher Emily Perlich (11-12) were due up as the potential game-winning run at the plate. She recorded her ninth punch out for the second out, and a fly ball to right field was hauled in by Jaynie MacDonald to seal the game.

Perlich stranded 10 runners on base including eight in scoring position. She has struck out 22 batters over her last 15 innings and has a 0.93 ERA during that time. On Wednesday she scattered seven hits (six singles) and issued three walks during her eight innings and 131 pitches.

Urban Knights starting pitcher Alexa Peters allowed just one run over 6.1 innings. She allowed five singles and issued four walks while striking out two batters in a no-decision outing. Jill Johnson (7-10) was tagged with the loss after the Pioneers scored courtesy of a passed ball and wild pitch in the eighth.

Marisa Lerma led Cal State East Bay with a pair of hits in a 2-for-4 effort at the plate. LaVaute finished 1-for-2 and reached base twice via walk. After being issued only four walks from Feb. 16 through April 11 (35 games), LaVaute has taken first base courtesy of a base on balls on five occasions over the past three contests.

Cal St. East Bay 8, Academy of Art 3 – F
The Pioneers trailed 3-2 and were down to their final three outs heading into the top of the seventh. Four East Bay hits and four Academy of Art (12-26) errors later the visiting side found itself with a five-run cushion and only needing to record the final three outs for the win.

EB Pitcher Jordan Abel (7-3) tossed her third straight complete game victory and struck out a season-high six batters on Wednesday. She stranded eight runners on base and escaped a first inning bases loaded, one-out jam unscored upon to start game two.

Morioka collected her first two hits of the season including a game-tying RBI single in the seventh. The remainder of the Pioneer rally came with two outs as Meli Sanchez, Ali Cerminara, and Alex Vela all reached courtesy of errors from the Urban Knights middle infielders. Chelsie Kakela and LaVaute contributed run-scoring singles during that stretch.

Morioka was one of three Pioneers to finish with multiple hits in Wednesday's finale. Sanchez went 2-for-4 and scored three of the team's eight runs. Kakela finished 2-for-3 and collected her 32nd and 33rd RBI of the season in game two.

AAU starting pitcher Jill Johnson did not factor in the decision after lasting six innings. She surrendered two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks while fanning two batters. Relief pitcher Carlee Emerson (3-11) tossed the seventh in which all six runs scored by the Pioneers were unearned.

Taylor Thurman went 3-for-4 with a solo homer to lead the Urban Knights offense. The 2-3-4 hitters of Kamyle Glover, Elyse Cordova, and Thurman combined to go 7-for-12 (.583) with two RBI in game two. The rest of the squad combined to go 2-for-18 (.111) with an RBI.

Cal State East Bay (22-23, 13-15 CCAA) will return to Pioneer Field and league play when it hosts Cal State Stanislaus (13-34, 6-22 CCAA) for back-to-back doubleheaders starting on Friday, April 18.

For more information on upcoming contests, visit the Cal State East Bay softball schedule page.

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