ARCATA, Calif. ? Rightfielder Katie Garcia led fifth-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills to a 6-4 win over fourth-seeded UC San Diego during day one of the NCAA Division II Softball West Regional Championships on the campus of Humboldt State University.
After Garcia's home run in the top of the seventh gave the Toros a 6-3 lead, a late rally in the bottom of the inning provided the Triton faithful with a glimmer of hope. Nevertheless, with runners on first and second, a slicing fly ball off the bat of second baseman Danielle Lukk was pulled in by Garcia on a diving play to her left for the final out.
The Tritons fall to 32-23 overall this season and will face elimination Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in a game against Humboldt State. The Toros improve to 29-23 in 2008 and will take on Cal State San Bernardino at 4:30 p.m. CSUSB upset HSU, the tournament's top seed and nation's eighth-ranked squad, 10-1 later on Wednesday.
UCSD got on the scoreboard first against CSUDH with a run in the opening inning. First baseman Jenni Habib reached base on an error committed by Liz Vazquez and one batter later, Maze dropped a two-out single in front of the centerfielder to score Habib.
After two strong innings from Triton starter Lauren Chastain, the CSUDH attack got to the junior from Laguna Niguel in the third. With runners on second and third, Jennifer Frazier grounded a ball down the third base line. Maze made a fine play to her right, grabbing the ball and tagging Katie Jordan before she could scramble back to the bag. Although it made for the second out of the inning, the Toros still managed to strike for three runs off RBI hits from Garcia and pitcher Regina Farfan. UCSD head coach Patti Gerckens sent Melissa Ward in as a reliever and the Tritons escaped further damage in that inning.
The UCSD offense rallied back to score one in the bottom of the fourth. When Amanda Eliades lined a ball to the left of Vazquez, the second baseman had a chance to make the play but the shot caromed off her glove into leftfield to score Allison May and cut the CSUDH lead to 3-2.
The Toros pushed their advantage to 5-2 behind more production from Garcia, coming through with an RBI single up the middle, and Farfan, collecting a sacrifice fly to plate Frazier.
Despite being down three runs with six outs to play, the Tritons' offense didn't back down. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Lukk pulled an inside fastball down the leftfield line and well beyond the outfield fence. It was Lukk's third home run this season and fifth of her career.
Garcia's second home run of the season put the Toros up by three once again heading into UCSD's final at-bat. The Tritons worked the bases loaded with one out, sending Eliades to the plate. The sophomore shortstop collected a sacrifice fly to score Sarah Woofter, bringing the score to 6-4. With Lukk's fly ball falling into Garcia's glove for the final out, Farfan earned the victory to improve to 16-9. Chastain fell to 11-5 with the loss.
