4/10/10 - #3 Sea Lions Slow Royals

By Tim Gooszen

San Diego, CA- On Saturday, Hope International was unable to capitalize on winning three of their four previous games as #3 Point Loma Nazarene shut down the Royals 5-0 and 3-0.  Freshman Kayla Uphold was the only Royal with more than one hit on the day.

In Game 1, Uphold was able to keep the Sea Lions (23-7, 13-5 GSAC) off the scoreboard through the first four innings though she allowed base runners in all those innings.  The first inning was her best piece of pitching after a rough start that included two singles and a hit batsman to load the bases with nobody out.  But she bore down and recorded three outs (including having a runner cut down at the plate) without allowing a run.

Unfortunately, the Sea Lions finally broke in the fifth inning with four runs.  The inning was similar to the first as the Sea Lions loaded the bases without any outs but this time Jessica Tieszen cleared the bases with a triple to right center.  Tieszen eventually came home herself on a single to give the Sea Lions a 4-0 lead.

Point Loma tacked on another run in the sixth to account for all the scoring in the game.

On the offensive side, the Royals could not solve Sea Lions’ pitcher Tyler Lent as she struck out 12.  In fact, the Royals did not get their first hit until Uphold singled with two outs in the seventh inning.

Uphold took the loss to fall to 8-14 on the year.

The second game saw the Royals have several more chances than the first with the best chance coming in the second inning after Senior Sheyna Alarcon doubled down the left field line to start the inning.  But the Royals came away empty.

In the fourth, Uphold singled and stole second but was left stranded. 

Senior Victoria Castillo singled in the fifth and Freshman Janelle Medor singled in the sixth but that is all the Royals could muster.

From the circle, though Sophomore Alexis Alonzo allowed eight hits, she did allow the Sea Lions to have big innings.  She allowed a single run the second (unearned), fifth, and sixth.  She had two 1-2-3 innings with the second one coming via a huge double play in the third with Freshman Carly Asher snagging a line drive in left field and doubling off the runner at first.

Even with only needing 88 pitches, Alonzo was still pinned with the loss and drops to 5-10 on the year.

On Tuesday, the Royals will go to Irvine to take on #9 Concordia with the first pitch coming at 2:00 pm.

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