AZUSA, Calif. – The sixth-ranked University of California San Diego softball team picked up a pair of road wins over nonconference opponent Azusa Pacific University (APU) on Monday afternoon. With the victories, the Tritons improve to 13-4 overall, while APU drops to 4-5.
Game One: UC San Diego 2, Azusa Pacific 0 (10 Inn.)
Game one consisted of a pitcher's duel between Triton starter
Robyn Wampler and APU hurler Kat Ung. The two lefties entered the game with almost identical ERA's with Wampler's (1.63) being just one point lower. The game was scoreless through nine innings.
The Tritons' defense experienced plenty of action in the field and committed zero errors. Junior
Isabel Lavrov and freshman
Sophia Real received the majority of ground balls, collecting seven and six assists apiece.
Wampler had only faced four batters over the minimum upon completing seven innings. The lefty's off speed was especially effective in the contest, contributing to six strikeouts on the day. Having tossed 87 pitches in regulation, the junior had surrendered only four hits and one extra base hit.
APU's Ung challenged UC San Diego just as much. After seven, Ung had given up three hits and piled on two strikeouts to her total of 17 on the season. Ung tossed 8.0 innings before being replaced by Grace Brown.
Run production in the tenth proved to be all the Tritons needed.
Senior
Danica Kazakoff reached on a Cougar miscue and stole second the very first pitch of freshman
Sophia Real's at-bat. Small ball was effective all game, as Real successfully bunted her over to third. With two outs,
Keila Bosinger roped a triple over the right fielder's head. Moments later, Harrington barreled a ground ball up the middle that found the glove of a diving second baseman. The wheels were too much as Harrington beat the throw and another run came across for the Tritons.
Wampler went the distance and the Cougars could not touch the Berkeley native through extras. She garnered her sixth win of the season.
It was the third extra inning game the Tritons had played in five games.
Game Two: UC San Diego 3, Azusa Pacific 2
In game two, Real led UC San Diego offensively, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs and one double.
This time however, the Cougars struck first. A bases loaded two-out single through the left side would give APU an early two-run advantage.
However, the Tritons answered in the top of the second. Reyes dunked a bloop-single into left field to get things started. After Kazakoff reached on a error by the pitcher, Real blasted a double to the left field fence to score them both and evened the competition at 2-2.
In the top of the sixth, after already belting one off the left field wall, Harrington went the other way and drilled a double to right center. Lavrov bunted Harrington sixty feet closer and with two outs, senior
Brittney Ross-Smith produced. In a big pinch-hit situation, a shallow single to right field brought in the go-ahead run.
Right-handed pitcher
Alanna Phillips threw five innings and surrendered three hits. Although allowing two runs in the bottom of the first, Phillips blanked the Cougars from then on out. In the sixth, freshman
Kaia Simpson came in for relief. With no outs and a runner on second, Simpson stranded the Cougar and struck out two of the next three to get the Tritons back in the dugout. In six batters faced, Simpson did not allow a single hit and brought the Tritons their fourth victory in a row.
Phillips captured the win (6) and Simpson was credited with the save (2). The Triton defense held it down again in game two, displaying a goose egg in the error column.
"Defense wins and loses games," said Head Coach
Patti Gerckens. "Our defense was stellar today and our pitching was spot on. We got some key hits when we needed them but I still believe we can be better about executing in pressured situations and are leaving too many people on base."
Up Next:
The Tritons will return home for a four-game conference series against Stanislaus State on Feb. 21-22. Game times for day one are 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., while game times for day two are 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego student-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 82 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego student-athletes have earned All-America honors.
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