TURLOCK, Calif. – The Pioneers hit the road to take part in the Tournament of Champions hosted by Stanislaus State. The Pioneers won 2-1 against Chaminade University in the early game in walk-off fashion, and lost 3-2 to Academy of Art University in the afternoon game.
CSU East Bay 2, Chaminade 1
The Pioneers got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning on an Annelise Garcia double that drove in Sarah Fukushima for a 1-0 lead. In the top of the fourth inning, the Silverswords tied the game at 1-1 on a Taryn Fujioka single that scored Keaolani Takemura.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Madeline Ramirez hit a walk-off RBI single through the right side that drove in Kylie Coelho, giving the Pioneers a 2-1 win. It was the second consecutive game in which Ramirez hit for a walk-off victory.
In the circle, the win went to Abby Greer and the loss went to Jaeda Cabunoc. Garcia went 3-for-3 with a RBI. Gabriela Rivera went 2-for-3.
Game 1 Postgame Quote from CSU East Bay head coach Claire Sua-Amundson
"We had some great individual performances from Annelise Garcia, Abby Greer and Maddie Ramirez. Really happy that Maddie was able to make the adjustment and get us that timely RBI in the 7th."
Academy of Art 3, CSU East Bay 2
Kayla Ching scored a run in the top of the second inning after a dropped fly ball allowed her to score from second base to give Cal State East Bay a 1-0 lead. The Pioneers added another run in the top of the fourth inning on a Sarah Duran single up the middle that drove in Alexa Zumstein.
However, the Urban Knights scored three unanswered runs, including a pair in the bottom of the seventh inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Urban Knights would score two runs to win the game 3-2, including a walk-off RBI single from Cassandra Mittman.
The win went to Jolene Rhoades for the Urban Knights and the loss went to Savannah Barchus for the Pioneers. Duran went 2-for-3 in the game with an RBI.
Game 2 Postgame Quote from Claire Sua-Amundson
"Lex Palmon threw a solid five innings for us and I am really happy with how she competed today. Offensively we had opportunities throughout the game and didn't get that timely hit to score more runs for our pitchers. We have to do a better job offensively making adjustments throughout the game so we can capitalize in those RBI situations."
The Pioneers (17-14) will play two games tomorrow in the Tournament of Champions as they will take on MSU Billings at 2 p.m. and Biola at 4:30 p.m.