TURLOCK, Calif. – After playing five games within a span of 24 hours the Cal State East Bay softball team finished with four victories at the Tournament of Championship hosted by Cal State Stanislaus. Pitcher Sierra Clark tossed 17 shutout innings and catcher Ali Cerminara is 11-of-16 (.688) at the plate and has driven in half of the team's runs to highlight the Pioneer performances.

Website: Tournament of Champions

Cal State East Bay (19-14) will face Holy Names (6-33) in the Bronze Bracket semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 29. The winner will advance to the 2:30 p.m. title game and take on the winner of Hawaii-Hilo and Notre Dame de Namur.

Cal State East Bay 1, Western Washington 0 – F/8
CSUEB's Clark and WWU's Makinlee Sellevold combined to put up 14 consecutive zeroes as the game headed into extra innings. The TOC format sends games to the international tiebreaker rules placing a runner on second base to start the inning.

The Vikings put down three bunts in the top of the eighth inning in hopes of bringing home the go-ahead run. WWU eventually put runners on first and second bases with one out when Clark helped out her own cause. A lined bunt back at the circle was snatched near Clark's shoelaces and she alertly fired to first to end the inning.

East Bay eventually loaded the bases in its half of the eighth with one out. Cerminara's strong showing at the plate this weekend started by depositing the walk-off base hit into left field. She was the only Pioneer to collect multiple base hits in the game.

Clark surrendered six hits (five singles) and struck out three while throwing only 92 pitches. Sellevold hurled 90 pitches, walking three and striking out two.

Cal State East Bay 8, Hawaii Pacific 5 – F
Cerminara and Gabby Gonzalez combined to go a perfect 8-for-8 at the plate and drive in the team's final five runs. The final three RBI base hits came on first pitch offerings, and four of the five run scoring hits were stroked within the first two pitches of the at bat.

Tatiana Beilstein exited in the sixth after allowing five runs (two earned) on 11 hits. She was on the wrong end of four Pioneer errors with three coming in the fifth inning that saw Hawaii Pacific score three times and close the gap to two runs.

Clark stretched her scoreless innings streak with two hitless frames to close the game. After issuing a full count walk to her opening batter she retired six straight to finish the contest with four courtesy of punch outs.

HPU pitcher Alexa McCoy was tagged with the loss allowing seven runs on 11 hits in four innings. Keila Elderts, Sharae Esprecion, and Kiana Wolfe each had two hits for the Sharks.

Cal State East Bay 2, Dominican 1 – F
East Bay pitcher Jordan Abel was impressive in only her second start in the circle this season. She held the Penguins to only two hits including a game-tying fourth inning solo homer from Catlyn Cavender.

Cerminara put the Pioneers out front with a RBI single in the third, and hit the game-winning solo homer to centerfield in the sixth. The round trippers by either side were the only extra base hits of the game.

DUC pitcher Katelyn Harden struck out three and walked two in six innings. She threw just 85 pitches and allowed two runs (one earned) in the loss.

Cal State East Bay 4, Notre Dame de Namur 0 – F
A two-run, first inning homer from Cerminara followed by solo homers from Jaynie MacDonald in the third and fifth provided the only runs in Saturday's opener. Three of the Pioneers four hits cleared the wall, and five of the eight between the two squads went for extra bases.

The Argonauts did not have a runner reach third base until the seventh inning, providing little resistance against Clark in the circle. At one point the Pioneer pitcher retired 10 straight and forced a groundout with game-ending groundout with runners in scoring position to preserve her shutout streak.

Clark struck out four, walked two, and gave up four hits while picking up her ninth win of the year. NDNU's Jenna Bassler allowed three runs in 2.1 innings and was tagged with the loss.

Azusa Pacific 10, Cal State East Bay 1 – F
A first inning home run from Gonzalez was a promising start in hopes the Pioneers would go a perfect 5-0 in pool play. Azusa Pacific had other ideas with a Madison Hernandez game-tying homer in the second.

That was the first of 10 unanswered runs and 15 base hits for the Cougars offense. Nicki Sprague paced APU with her 4-for-5, three RBI effort at the plate. The 3-4 hitters in the APU lineup of Sprague and Hernandez combined to go 7-for-9 with four RBI.

Cerminara collected two base hits to lead the Pioneers and finished pool play 11-for-16 at the plate. She drove in eight of the team's 16 runs scored through five games.

APU pitcher Narissa Garcia struck out nine batters and gave up only three hits in the win. Beilstein was tagged with the loss giving up six of the 10 runs in 2.2 innings.