3/20/10 - Royals Miss Chance After Chance Against Cougars

By Tim Gooszen

Fullerton, CA- On Saturday, the strong pitching of Sophomore Alexis Alonzo and Freshman Kayla Uphold gave Hope International plenty of chances to pull off a sweep of Azusa Pacific.  Instead, the eight errors committed by the Royals gave the Cougars the sweep- 2-1 and 7-6 in 12 innings.  Of the nine runs allowed by the Royals on the day- only one was earned.

Uphold started Game 1 and put on a pitching clinic as she retired the first 14 batters she faced in order.  The Cougars finally put a chink in Uphold’s armor with back-to-back singles with two outs in the fifth.  An error by the Royals allowed the inning to continue and the Cougars would plate a run before the Royals could record the third out.

An error to begin the top of the sixth, followed by two hit batters, and a passed ball allowed APU’s second run to score. Uphold would then retire the next four batters to close out the game.

Meanwhile way back in the bottom of the first inning, the Royals scored their lone run of the game.  Freshmen Janelle Medor and Danielle Thomson worked back-to-back walks to open the inning.  Uphold reached and Medor moved up to third on a fielder’s choice.  After a stolen base by Uphold, a wild pitch scored Medor and moved Uphold to third.  But that is all the runs the Royals could produce in the inning as well as in the game.

The Royals had plenty of chances as they had at least one base runner in every inning but one.  Their best chance came in the sixth inning with runners at first and second and two out.  The Royal trying to advance to third was called for interference on a ground ball hit near shortstop to end the inning.

Ultimately, the Royals outhit the Cougars 7-3 but came up short.  Freshman Leslie Coffee was 2-3 in the game.

Uphold took the tough loss and fell to 7-10 on the year.

After retiring the first two hitters of Game 2, the wheels came off in a hurry for the Royals as three hits and three errors suddenly had the Cougars in front 3-0.

However, Alonzo responded by retiring 13 of the next 14 Cougars (including 10 in a row at one point). 

With Alonzo hitting her spots and keeping the Royals in the game, the HIU batters finally responded with two runs in the fourth and a run in the fifth to tie the score.  With two outs in the fourth, Junior Angie Abbe and Uphold both drew a walk and would eventually both come in to score on back-to-back errors by the Cougars’ second baseman.

In the fifth, Coffee singled to left to start the inning for the Royals.  After being moved up to second on a sacrifice, Thomson reached on a fielder’s choice when the Cougars tried to go after Coffee at third- Coffee was safe as well.  After a walk loaded the bases, Abbe hit a chopper to the Cougars drawn in infield and Coffee was gunned down at the plate.  Uphold singled to right to drive home Thomson and tie the score at three.

Both teams threatened, including the Royals having a runner thrown out at the plate, but neither could score in the final two innings of regulation.

In the eighth and ninth, both teams scored a run in each inning after the international tie break runner was sacrificed over from second and the teams combined for three hits and a sacrifice fly to score the runs.  A triple by Erin Halma to drive in the Cougars’ run in the eighth was the only extra base hit in both games.

The tenth and eleventh saw no scoring from either team.

Then came the twelfth.  The Cougars scored two runs on the benefit of just one hit to put the pressure on the Royals.  A ground out by Thomson drove home Coffee from third and the Royals were within one but would get no closer.

Even with the loss, Alonzo (pictured) should still get a game ball after throwing 159 pitches, striking out eight, and allowing just one earned run.

The two wins improved Azusa Pacific to 17-13 and 4-6 in the GSAC while the Royals dropped to 10-18 and 0-12 in GSAC play.

On Tuesday, the Royals will host Cal State San Marcos for two games beginning at 2:00 pm at Craig Park.

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