3/23/10 - Alarcon Shows Power In Split With #20 Cougars

By Tim Gooszen

Fullerton, CA- Unable to her find her homerun stroke up to this point in the season, Senior Sheyna Alarcon ended her power dry spell for the Royals with a homerun in both games of Tuesday’s 5-4 in 8 innings and 5-2 split with #20 CSU San Marcos.  Sophomore Alexis Alonzo earned the win in the first game.

The first five pitches of the day played out nowhere near what the Royals expected.  The first two hitters for CSU San Marcos hit the first pitch they both saw for singles.  After a double steal, a single on the fifth pitch of the game drove home both runners and before anyone had broken a sweat- the Cougars led 2-0.  Three batters later, another single drove home the third run of the game.

In innings two through seven, Alonzo allowed just three base runners on an error in the second, a walk in the third, and a single in the seventh.  Between the walk and the single, Alonzo retired 13 straight batters.  She also induced a double play that erased the singles hitter and ended the seventh inning.

A walk by Senior Victoria Castillo jump started the Royals offense in the third.  Junior Rachel Costa pinch ran for Castillo.  Two batters later, Freshman Janelle Medor singled to left and both runners moved up an additional bag after an error in left field.  Freshman Kayla Uphold then doubled home both runners and the Royals were within one at 3-2.

With one out in the fourth inning, Alarcon, pictured, put a charge into the ball toward left center that carried over the fence for her first homerun of the season and tied the score at 3-3.

Though the Royals threatened with a pair of runners in the fifth and seventh, neither team could push across another run in the regulation seven innings.  So for the third time in as many double headers, the Royals found themselves headed to extra innings.

With the international tie breaker in effect, San Marcos used the traditional sacrifice and single to manufacture their run.  For the Royals, Alonzo was hit on the leg and Alarcon reached a fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt to load the bases.  Two batters later, Castillo became the hero for the Royals when she deposited a single into left field that was misplayed and the game tying and game winning runs came on home.

Alonzo threw all eight innings to claim the win and improve to 3-8 on the year.

In the evening cap, the game was ultimately decided in the second inning.

The Cougars had five consecutive batters reach via a combination of two singles, two doubles, and a walk.  An illegal pitch and groundout after the five batters helped the Cougars build a 4-0 lead.

Alonzo singled leading off the Royals part of the second and Alarcon followed by crushing her second homerun of the day to pull the Royals to within two runs at 4-2.

Neither team was able to plate any more runs in the third through sixth innings though both teams had runners galore as there was only one 1-2-3 inning combined in that same inning time frame.

The Cougars added an insurance run in the seventh and the Royals could not answer in the bottom of the inning.

Uphold took the uncharacteristic loss and fell to 7-11 on the season.

Interestingly enough, Brenna Sandberg went the distance in both games for the Cougars and finished with a loss and a win on the day.

The split gives the Royals an 11-19 record on the year while the Cougars’ record goes to 19-9.

The Royals will now gear up for the second round of GSAC play starting with NAIA #1 California Baptist in Riverside on Saturday.

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