TURLOCK, Calif. - A two-out walkoff single from pinch-hitting freshman Nicole Spangler lifted the UC San Diego softball team to a 1-0 win Saturday afternoon over Central Washington during day two of the Tournament of Champions. With the win, the Tritons secured a spot in the Gold Bracket and a 11:15 a.m. Sunday matchup against Dixie State.

UCSD, now 23-10 overall on the season, opened the day with a 13-0 rout of Montana State Billings. In that game, Tritons' seniors Mandi Eliades and Nicole Saari collected three hits apiece out of the team's 16. UCSD starter Tess Granath hurled a four-hit shutout in the shortened five-inning game.

In game two, CWU's Lauren Hadenfeld and the Tritons' Camille Gaito went toe-to-toe in a tremendous pitching duel. The two offenses went scoreless through the first six innings as the contest appeared headed to extra frames. Saari opened up the seventh with a single. Freshman Katie Belanger pushed Saari to second with a sacrifice bunt. Eventually with two outs on the board, Spangler lined a single through the left side to score Saari from third for the winning run. It was only fitting for Spangler, who hails from the state of Washington.

Sonoma State clinched the No. 1 spot with a win Saturday afternoon over Western Oregon. The Tritons and Seawolves both finished the group stage with 4-1 records but SSU held an advantage in run differential to take the higher spot. UCSD captured the No. 2 position in Pool A and Patti Gerckens' squad will take on DSC at 11:15 a.m. Sunday.

On the pitching side for UCSD in the tournament, Granath now has three wins on the weekend and improves to 4-1 in 2010. Gaito has thrown 13 innings in the past two days without allowing an earned run.

Eliades has led the Tritons' offense in Turlock, going 6-for-14 across the five games so far and earning a spot in the lineup's No. 3 position Saturday.