3/30/10 - Alarcon Delivers Sweep

By Tim Gooszen
Photo by Kyle Angel

Fullerton, CA- With a simple flick of her wrist, Senior Sheyna Alarcon connected for the game winning hit that gave the Royals a sweep of Biola on Tuesday.    After an 8-5 win in the first game, Senior Lindsay Robillard delivered the big blow in the form of a two run homerun to help the Royals pull out the extra inning 3-2 win in the second game.

Pitching was the big story of the first game- specifically Biola pitching.  Kristin Larson, Biola’s starting pitcher, gift wrapped five runs in the first two innings for the Royals by continually being called for an illegal pitch.

With one out in the first, Freshman Kayla Uphold reached on a walk, stole second, and move up to third on an illegal pitch.   Junior Caitlin Angel brought her home with a sacrifice fly to right.  Alarcon followed with a double down the left field line- two illegal pitches later she walked home to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Back to back walks by Sophomore Bree Briones and Freshman Danielle Thomson opened the bottom of the second inning.  Freshman Janelle Medor was then hit by a pitch.  Two more illegal pitches drove home two more runs for the Royals and an RBI single to center by Angel drove home a third run to give the Royals a 5-0 cushion.

Meanwhile, Sophomore Alexis Alonzo, pictured, allowed base runners to reach on two errors and two walks but did not allow a hit through the first four innings.

In the fifth inning, the Eagles finally broke through against Alonzo for three singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly to put two runs on the board.

But the Royals responded with two runs in their half of the inning without the benefit of a hit.  Two errors by the Eagles and three illegal pitches helped the Royals cause.

Medor doubled to left center with one out in the sixth.  A groundout and yet another illegal pitch  brought Medor across the plate for the Royals eighth and final run.

Sloppy defense by the Royals in the seventh allowed the Eagles to score three runs and actually bring the tying run to the plate before the Royals were able to close the door.

Alonzo posted the win to improve to 4-9 on the year.

Game two started with Uphold living dangerously as she allowed a leadoff single in the first and second innings and an error in the third but Uphold was able to get of trouble unscathed. 

But in the fourth she momentarily lost her magic.  Another leadoff single followed two outs later by a double and then two errors allowed the Eagles to break the 0-0 tie and score two runs.

In the fifth, Uphold delivered her only 1-2-3 inning.  Then in the sixth and seventh, Uphold the Houdini returned as she wiggled out of a runners at second and third jam and then a bases loaded jam.

Sandwiched in between Uphold’s strong pitching was Robillard’s deep fly.  Angel led off the sixth with a single.  Alonzo switched places with her at first on a fielder’s choice.  Then Robillard lifted a 1-1 pitch high into the late afternoon sky that carried over the left center field fence and knotted the score at 2-2.

In the bottom of the seventh, Freshman Leslie Coffee walked, move second on a sacrifice bunt, and in an attempt to the end the game before heading into extra innings was waved home on a single through the left side but a strong throw nailed her at the plate.

For the fourth time in their last five doubleheaders, the Royals and their opponent were headed to extra innings.

Even with the international tie breaker in play, Uphold was able to deny the Eagles a run in the top of the eighth inning.

With only needing one run for the win, the Royals took advantage.  Angel laid down a sac bunt to move Uphold, who started the inning out at second, up to third.  Then Alarcon stepped up and after spoiling a couple of 1-2 pitches deposited a half swing into right that allowed Uphold to race home and complete the sweep for the Royals.

On the strength of allowing just one earned run, Uphold saw her record climb to 8-12 with the win.

The two wins pushed the Royals record to 13-21 and 2-14 in GSAC play while the losses dropped the Eagles to 17-15 and 7-9 in the GSAC.

Weather permitting, the Royals will play two against William Jessup on Thursday at Craig Park at 2:00 pm before getting a much needed weekend off.

 

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