HAYWARD, Calif. -- It was a long Sunday for the Cal State East Bay softball team, which began the morning by completing the suspended second game from Saturday's doubleheader. Following that, the Pioneers took on Cal State Dominguez Hills in two more games to close out the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series. Despite picking up an 8-0 win behind a two-hit shutout by Abby Greer, CSUEB ultimately dropped the series to the Toros, three games to one. 

The teams resumed play from Saturday evening at 10:00 a.m. with Dominguez Hills leading 4-1 to start the fourth inning. Olivia McWhorter, who entered in relief in the second inning yesterday, continued in the circle and was outstanding, allowing just three hits in six innings. 

The Pioneers got a run back in the fourth as Bailee Aguigui drew a bases loaded walk, then another in the fifth on an RBI double by Bailee Glover. They trailed by just one run heading into the final two innings, but couldn't score in their last two at bats. The Toros tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh to seal the win and take a 2-0 series lead. 

Greer took the ball to start the next game and dominated from the outset, flipping the momentum in CSUEB's favor. She allowed just three base runners over six innings of scoreless work. Alyssa Olague of CSUDH matched her zero for zero to start the game, but the Pioneers finally broke through in the fifth. Jocelyn Baldon and Aguigui both singled with two outs, then Jennifer Palmares laced a two-run double into the right field corner to break the scoreless tie. 

The floodgates opened for the Pioneers in the sixth as they scored six runs on eight hits to enact the eight-run rule and end the game. Sarah Fukushima capped it off with an opposite field double to knock in the final run. East Bay, which struggled on offense in the other three games of the series, racked up 14 hits in this one with eight different players getting in on the fun. Five notched multi-hit games, with Fukushima leading the way going 3-for-4.

The Pioneers had a chance to split the series by winning the finale, but their bats went back into hibernation after the 8-0 win. McWhorter was back in the circle and was effective once again, hanging four straight zeroes on the scoreboard to open the game as the teams remained knotted at 0-0 into the fifth inning. 

Finally the Toros got a big two-out double to plate a run in the fifth, then they broke it open with four runs in the sixth, taking advantage of a CSUEB error.

Fukushima provided the Pioneers with their only offense of the finale, belting a two-run homer over the left-center fence in the bottom of the sixth for her first round-tripper of the season. However as a team, East Bay tallied just five hits in the 8-2 loss.

Having dropped seven of their last eight, the Pioneers are now 9-13 overall heading into next weekend's tough road trip down to La Jolla for a four-game series at UC San Diego on Friday and Saturday.