AZUSA, CALIF. -- Jennie Waleszonia's single to right field scored Alisa Arrigoni from third base to lift the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Azusa Pacific to an 11-inning, 1-0 victory over Cal State Hayward in the NAIA Region II Championship game Thursday night. With the victory, Azusa Pacific clinches an automatic berth into next week's NAIA Softball Championship Tournament, May 17-20, in Decatur, Ala.
Arrigoni led off the bottom of the 11th with an infield single, and for the second time in the game, stole second base to get into scoring position. Jennifer Powell then moved Arrigoni to third with a sacrifice bunt, setting up Waleszonia's heroics.
"As I stepped to the plate, I asked myself, 'Are you going to be a hero, or are you going to let this opportunity pass by?' " said Waleszonia of her game-winning hit. "I told myself to focus and hit the ball as I hard as I could."
All the while, Azusa Pacific's senior pitcher Jodi Miller did nothing short of dominating the Pioneer batters, scattering 6 hits through 11 innings, while striking out 5. Of the 6 hits, 3 came to start an inning, and the other 3 came with just 1 out. However, Miller allowed only 1 runner to reach third base, relying on the solid Cougar defense, which committed only 1 error, that being on the first batter of the game.
"I felt confident because I knew my defense was behind me, and I just wanted to get the outs," said Miller.
Cal State Hayward's Jeanmarie Asmega stranded 14 Cougar baserunners while throwing 10 scoreless innings before finally giving up the game's only run in the 11th inning.
"This was the most amazing game I have ever coached," said Cougar head coach Sharon Lehman, who coached the 1996 and 1997 Azusa Pacific teams to fifth-place finishes at the national tournament. "[The 1997] team had seven seniors while we only have two this year, but it also had two freshman pitchers, while this year's team has two seasoned pitchers. I would throw Jodi [Miller] and Mandy [Dorow] against anybody."
In the top of the 11th, Hayward threatened when Jessina Stedman stole second, putting the potential go-ahead run in scoring position with 2 outs. However, Cristal Brown came from her shortstop position to snag Gina Ledesma's grounder on the first-base side of second base to gun down Ledesma on a close play at first base.
The Cougars had their chances early. With 2 outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Laura Powers drove a line drive to right-center field. Pioneer centerfielder Jan Yukumoto made a spectacular diving catch to end the inning, but it was ruled that the ball came loose before she had control of it, and Powers stood at second base with Jennifer Stark coming to bat. However, Asmega induced a groundout to shortstop to end the inning.
In the Cougar seventh, Arrigoni singled to lead off, but after a pair of strikeouts, Arrigoni still stood at first base. With Brown at the plate, Arrigoni stole second to move into scoring position, but leftfielder Jessina Stedman made a leaping catch of Brown's sharp line drive to send the game to extra innings.
Azusa Pacific's Lorna Lyttle extended her streak to 28 games reaching base safely, smacking a 1-0 pitch back up the middle with 2 outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Powers followed by hitting another 1-0 pitch into left for a single, but Asmega fielded a sharp grounder and threw Stark out at first.
Brown led off the bottom of the tenth inning with an infield single, then moved over to third after a pair of groundouts. With Lorna Lyttle and her region-high 9 HRs at the plate, Cal State Hayward intentionally walked Lyttle, and then Powers to load the bases. With a chance to end the game, Stark stepped to the plate but once again, Asmega got a groundout to shorts, guaranteeing CS Hayward its second straight 11-inning game (the Pioneers defeated Point Loma in 11 innings, 4-3 earlier in the day to advance to the championship game).
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 47-13, while CS Hayward finishes its season at 31-13.
Linescore
CS Hayward 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0 6 2
Azusa Pacific 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -- 1 12 1
no outs when winning run scored
Jeanmarie Asmega (L, 9-3) and Lindsey Duncan
Jodi Miller (W, 25-7) and Jaime Salazar
2B - Laura Powers (APU)
SB - Jessina Stedman (CSUH), Cassie Lakey (APU), Alisa Arrigoni 2 (APU)
CS - Jan Yukumoto (CSUH)
SH - Cheryl Hrstich (CSUH), Lindsey Duncan (CSUH),
Jessina Stedman (CSUH), Jennifer Powell (APU)
NAIA REGION II PLAYOFFS ? May 11, Day 2 results
Game 5 - CS Hayward 4, Point Loma 3 (11 inn.) (Point Loma eliminated)
Game 6 - Azusa Pacific 1, CS Hayward 0 (11 inn.) (CS Hayward eliminated)
NAIA REGION II PLAYOFFS ? May 10, Day 1 results
Game 1 - Azusa Pacific 7, CS Hayward 0
Game 2 - Point Loma 3, Biola 0
Game 3 - CS Hayward 2, Biola 0 (Biola eliminated)
Game 4 - Azusa Pacific 1, Point Loma 0
