April 6, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Behind five runs and another strong outing from their ace, junior Chelsea Engle (Folsom, Calif.), the Pacific softball team picked up its first conference series win of 2008, defeating UC Davis, 5-1, on Sunday, April 6. The win gave the Tigers (21-23) the 2-1 series win and evened their conference mark at 3-3 while the Aggies (16-26) fell to 1-5 in the Big West.
In a remix of game one of the series featuring Engle versus the Aggies' Jessica Hancock, the Tigers offense made sure that the contest would have a very different outcome than the previous encounter. While it took a few innings for Pacific to find their way against Hancock, once the rhythm was found, the Tigers did not let up.
In the bottom of the third inning, senior Mandy Hickman (Phoenix, Ariz.) put the Tigers ahead of the Aggies by one, lifting a leadoff solo homerun down the leftfield line to put Pacific up 1-0. The round-tripper was the second of the season for the senior catcher and sparked the Tigers' offense to another five run outing.
With the first run out of the way, the Tigers put the game away in the bottom of the fifth inning, denting the plate four times in the inning to secure their third conference win of the season to move back to .500 in Big West play.
Once again, it was Hickman at the plate who started the inning off for the Tigers, this time singling up the middle. She finished the day 2-for-3 with and RBI and a run scored. With Hickman on, sophomore Nicole Gradwohl (Livermore, Calif.) came into pinch hit in the eight spot for Pacific from which she worked a walk to put runners at first and second with no outs in the inning.
After a close play at third on a bunt by freshman Lindsey Pierce (Camarillo, Calif.) saw the lead run cut down for the first out of the inning, the Tigers caught their first break of the inning on an errant throw by Sarah Axelson at third base trying to cut down the lead runner for the second time in a row. On the error, Gradwohl came in to score Pacific's first run of the inning while the Tigers maintained two runners on base with no outs in the inning.
With a pair of Tigers aboard, another throwing error by Axelson on the Tigers' third consecutive sacrifice attempt allowed Pierce to score from third and kept the Tigers big inning alive with only one down. Pacific did not waste the gifts given to them in the inning as sophomore Kellee Wilson (Tracy, Calif.) added to her team lead in RBI with a single into centerfield that plated her 34th and 35th RBI of the season and put the Tigers ahead 5-0.
With her offense clicking in front of her, Engle helped herself out in the circle, averting danger in the top of the sixth inning as she gave up just one run in the inning despite loading the bases with no outs. Michelle Espiritu scored the lone run of the inning for the Aggies when she scored on an RBI single by Julie Stauder after moving into scoring position on one of the Tigers' two errors in the contest.
Despite the jam in the sixth, Engle threw her 20th complete game of the season to move to 14-11 on the year. In seven innings of work, Engle gave up four hits and walked one while striking out six. Her counterpart, Hancock, went all six for the Aggies, giving up three hits and three walks while striking out four in her second outing of the weekend.
The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, April 12 as they hit they head to Riverside, Calif. to take on the Highlanders in their first conference road trip of the season. The first game of the opening doubleheader is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
