ST. GEORGE, Utah ? Jenni Habib hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Camille Gaito allowed one run in seven complete innings to lead No. 7 UC San Diego to a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Cal State Monterey in an NCAA Division II West Regional elimination game at Dixie State's Kari Brook's Field. The Otters got two hits in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Kristyn Lesovsky and Sarah Woofter threw runners out at the plate to preserve the program's second NCAA Tournament win at the D-II level.
The Tritons improve to 30-24 overall and advance to face Hawaii Pacific for the second time in the tournament at 3:00 p.m. PST. The winner of the UCSD-HPU matchup will take on host Dixie State in Sunday's championship game at 11:00 a.m. The Red Storm defeated the Sea Warriors 5-0 in the first game of the day Saturday.
Cal State Monterey Bay's season ends at 36-27-1.
"Well our backs were obviously against the wall, but we felt confident against a Monterey team that we've seen a lot of lately," head coach Patti Gerckens said. "Camille was tremendous again and the defense really helped pick her up. We'll try to keep it going against Hawaii Pacific."
UCSD scored its only runs of the game the first inning. After Lesovsky drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Amanda Eliades, Habib crushed a ball over the right field fence for her third home run of the season.
CSUMB answered with a run in the third on Rachelle Morales' RBI single up the middle.
Gaito held the Otters down until the last of the seventh, when Jennifer Montez reached on an error to lead off the inning. With one out, Montez tried to score from second on Ashlee Trotter's single to right field, but Lesovsky made a perfect throw to the plate for the second out. The next batter was Shae Olds, who hit a double to the gap in left center, but Katrine Gabriel made an excellent recovery and got the ball in to Woofter at third, who relied the throw to Nicole Saari to get Trotter at home and seal the victory in dramatic fashion.
Gaito pitched another gem for the Tritons, allowing just the one run on 11 hits. The freshman struck out three and walked none, improving to 1-1 in the tournament and 12-4 overall.
Jessica Boyle (14-14) took the loss for the Otters after allowing two runs on six hits in 6.1 innings of work. She struck out two and walked five.
UCSD is now 2-7 all-time in NCAA D-II West Regional competition. The Tritons lost a 2-1 decision to Hawaii Pacific on Friday.
