4/1/10 - Royals Rally For Split

By Tim Gooszen
Picture by Kyle Angel

Fullerton, CA- For the second time in as many double headers , Senior Sheyna Alarcon came to bat with game two on the line and for the second time she came through with a single to end the game.  On Thursday, Alarcon drove home two to give the Royals the 4-3 win after falling in the opener 5-2 to William Jessup.  Sophomore Bree Briones joined Alarcon as the two Royals to have three hits on the day.

Game one started in the Royals’ favor as Freshman Janelle Medor singled to left leading off the bottom of the first inning.  A sacrifice and ground out moved Medor to third and Alarcon calmly banged the first pitch she saw back up the middle to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

The way Freshman Kayla Uphold pitched the first 3 2/3 innings it looked like one run might be enough.  Uphold retired the first eleven batters she faced with nine of the outs coming on groundouts. 

But a double by Mallory Blodgett and a hit batter started a rally for the Warriors.  Jackie Ferrari then tripled to right center to score both runners and give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.

Hope International responded in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single from Briones, a walk, and two Warrior errors to tie the score at 2-2.

After a scoreless sixth, the Warriors showed off their power and scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to break the tie and ultimately win the game.  With two out, an error by the Royals kept the inning alive and Liz Benton followed with a homerun to right center.   Audrea Lopez made it back to back homeruns when three pitches later she left the yard.

Freshman Danielle Thomson singled to begin the bottom of the seventh inning but a pair of groundouts and fly out to center ended the game.

Uphold went the distance striking out three and walking none while allowing two earned runs but was still saddled with the loss.

Like the first game, the second game started out in the Royals favor as Uphold singled to left and advanced to second on error with one out in the bottom of the first.  A groundout and RBI single from Alarcon brought Uphold home for the game’s first run.

From Alarcon’s single in the first until the dramatic seventh, the Royals would have just four base runners on two singles and two walks.

The Warriors wasted little answering back after Uphold scored as they used a walk, single, and double down the right field line to score two runs and take the lead back at 2-1.

In the top of the fifth, William Jessup used a single, stolen base, and another single to push their lead to 3-1.  The hair pulling moments for Head Coach Ty Angel was the fact that all eight runs scored on the day by the Warriors came after the Royals had recorded two outs in the innings in which WJU scored.

Sophomore Alexis Alonzo only allowed one base runner the rest of the game (who  was erased trying to steal second) to give the Royals a chance to pull off the win in the seventh.

After the first two hitters, Briones and Thomson, singled to open the seventh, an error by the Warriors opened the flood gates for the Royals.  Freshman Leslie Coffee, pictured bunting, laid down a sacrifice bunt but the throw to first was wild and Freshman Carly Asher, pinch running for Briones, came in to score.  Thomson and Coffee both moved into scoring position.  After a groundout failed to advance the runners, Uphold was unintentionally intentionally walked (five pitches outside with one catching the corner) to load the bases.

A strikeout setup the dramatic two out, two on situation for Alarcon.  On the second pitch, Alarcon bounced one up the middle that Warriors’ second baseman Tanya Perez made a diving attempt at and managed to get a little bit of glove on.  By getting leather on it, Perez slowed the ball down just enough as it carried into center field that Coffee was able to score the game winning run from second base.

Alonzo struck out six in her seven innings of work to earn the win and improve to 5-9 on the season.

Kara Besseghini was the winning and losing pitcher for the Warriors.  After coming on in relief in Game 1 for the win, the last batter she faced in Game 2 was Coffee- the eventual game winning run.  She is now 10-6 on the year.

With the split, the Royals’ record now stands at 14-22 while the Warriors now have a record of 20-13.

The Royals will have over a week off before they play again.  Their next double header will find them in San Diego to meet up with Point Loma Nazarene at 12:00 pm on the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command (NMAWC) Base Field.  Special arrangements are needed to attend that double header.  Click on the link for more information- http://www.pointloma.edu/Athletics/Softball/NMAWC_Field.htm.

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