TURLOCK, Calif. (Mar. 27) – After loosing its opening game of the Tournament on Champions Presented by the Turlock Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Central Washington Softball responded by defeating Academy of Art 8-3 in game number two.  The Wildcats lost their first game to Chico State by a score of 10-1.
 
The Wildcats had a hard time piecing together runs off the reigning California Collegiate Athletic Association player of the week Haley Gilham, scoring just one run in the fourth inning after trailing 10-0 through three innings.
 
Central Washington was outhit 14-4 and committed five errors in the contest.  Katie Focher drove in CWU's lone run on a scorching double to right centerfield scoring Andrea Hamada.
 
In the second contest, the CWU bats came to like collecting 13 hits en route to a 8-3 win.  The victory avenged a two-game sweep the Wildcats suffered to Academy of Art earlier in the season.
 
"It was great to see the players bounce back from our first game and grab a victory," Head Coach Mallory Holtman-Fletcher said. "We came out in the second game with a lot more energy and got a ton of production from our big bats."
 
The bat of Austin Wilkerson stole the show against the Urban Nights with the junior going 3 for 4 with four runs batted in.  Also driving in runs where Kailyn Campbell, Celine Fowler and Andrea Hamada.
 
Hamada broke out of a 1-14 slump and went 3 for 4 on the day raising her season average 16 points and is now batting .310 on the season.
 
Central Washington starting pitcher Lindsey Kamphuis there a complete game allowing just three runs with two strikeouts.  The Wildcat defense backed her up, committing no errors in the game with multiple diving stops by third baseman Alexa Olague. 
 
The Wildcats switched up their defense on Friday with Sammy Morris and Hamada switching positions which proved to work wonderfully for the Wildcats.  Of the 21 outs recorded in the contest 17 were recorded in the infield.
 
"Lindsey always gives us a chance to win if we play sound defense, and that is exactly what we did in the second game," Holtman Fletcher said.  "If we continue to play solid defense and our bats stay hot, we can do some serious damage the next couple of days."
 
Morris was a catalyst for the CWU offense in the second game, going 3 for 4 and scoring three times.
 
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow for three more games, starting with a rematch with fourth –ranked Cal State Monterey Bay at 11:15 a.m.