TURLOCK, Calif. – The Central Washington University softball team finished up its 2018 Tournament of Champions schedule with a two-game sweep over Holy Names and #13 Sonoma State by scores of 8-1 and 1-0, respectively.
The Wildcats ended the TOC with a 5-1 record and finished third amongst the 27 teams at the tournament. On the season, CWU is now 19-5.
Lexie Strasser secured the 5-1 record with a stellar performance in the circle for the Wildcats in the 1-0 win over #13 Sonoma State. She picked up her 10
th victory of the season (10-4) allowing just four hits while striking out four batters. All four of the hits she gave up came in the first three innings, meaning the Seawolves went hitless in the final four frames and had just two base runners. Strasser went 4-1 over the week with a 0.28 earned run average, allowing just nine hits in 24.2 innings of work, with one walk and 11 strikeouts.
Celine Fowler also played hero in the game-two victory plating the only run of the contest in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly to centerfield scoring
Kayla Smith from third base.
In the opener, Smith earned the complete game victory to move to 6-0 on the season. Smith allowed one run on seven hits, striking out six Holy Names batters in seven innings of work.
The Wildcats scored three runs in the third inning to break the 0-0 tie.
Bethany Balucan stole home for the first run, followed by a pair of RBI groundouts by
Katie Kastning and
Jacie McDaniels scoring
Rachael Johnson and
Savannah Egbert.
Up 5-0 in the seventh innings, Central added three more runs on a run scoring single by Fowler, and Balucan followed with a two RBI single up the middle.
Balucan went 2 for 2 in the game with two runs scored and two RBI.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Lexie Strasser and
Taelor Griffin were both named to the 2018 TOC All-Tournament Team for their performance over the Wildcats six games in Turlock.
SEVEN GAME ROAD TRIP BY THE NUMBERS
- Wildcats batted .285 over the week with 11 extra base hits and 33 runs batted in. Opponents hit just .207 with five extra base hits and 12 RBI
- Taelor Griffin led the Wildcats with a .500 batting average. She had seven hits including a three-run homerun in the Wildcats 10-1 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills. It was Griffin's first homerun of the season.
- Savannah Egbert led the Wildcats in hits with eight and scored a team high six runs.
- Central Washington was 13 for 14 in stolen base attempts led by Egbert who was 5 for 5. Theresa Moyle and Rachael Johnson both had two stolen bases.
- Five CWU pitchers combined for a 1.43 earned run average walking just seven batters in 44 innings of work. Kayla Smith went 2-0 with a pair of complete game victories. McKenzie Behnke saw her first action of the season and struck out three batters over 2.1 innings.
The Wildcats return to Great Northwest Athletic Conference play when they host Western Oregon and Concordia on Mar. 30 and 31, respectively, at Gary and Bobbi Frederick Field. The double header with Western Oregon will also include the continuation of the Wildcats and Wolves postponed game from Mar. 18. The Wolves led the Wildcats 4-0 in the second inning, which is where the game will pick at 11 a.m. next Friday. The Wildcats are a perfect 7-0 in GNAC play which leads the conference.
