TURLOCK, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific bounced back from a pair of defeats Friday with wins over Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State East Bay, finishing with three wins in five games at this weekend's Tournament of Champions Presented by Turlock Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The Cougars came from behind to win both games, rallying from a 2-1 fifth-inning deficit against Cal State Dominguez Hills for a 7-3 win before answering a first-inning Cal State East Bay run with 10 straight runs over the final six frames of a 10-1 victory.
Sophomore infielder Nicki Sprague went six-for-eight and drove in five runs to help lead an offense which produced 17 runs on 29 hits on the day, and junior catcher Madison Hernandez was five-for-eight with her Pacific West Conference-leading 10th home run of the season. Sophomore lefthander Carly Xepoleas struck out five in five innings against Cal State Dominguez Hills to pick up the win and improve to 9-8 on the year.
Junior righthander Narissa Garcia tossed the complete-game victory against Cal State East Bay, registering nine strikeouts and posting her seventh complete-game effort as she improved to 11-7. Garcia surrendered two hits in the first inning, with the Pioneers scoring their only run on a Gabby Gonzalez solo home run, but she allowed just one more hit and two walks over the final six frames to finish off the win.
In Saturday's opener, the first five hitters in Azusa Pacific's lineup each registered at least two hits, with leadoff hitter Illiana Jimenez setting the tone with a three-for-four performance. She scored two runs, including the Cougars' first run after falling behind 1-0 when she hit a one-out triple and scored on Sprague's RBI single to left.
After Cal State Dominguez Hills went back in front, 2-1, in the fifth, freshman first baseman Kayla Jimenez hit a two-run, two-out double to spark a four-run inning that gave Azusa Pacific the lead for good. Three more singles resulted in two more runs to extend the lead to 5-2, and a Hernandez double drove in one of two more runs in the sixth for the final 7-3 margin.
The Cal State East Bay lead in the second game was short-lived, as Hernandez answered the Gonzalez home run with her own solo shot on the second pitch as she led off the second inning. Sprague opened up a five-run third inning with a two-run double. As the Cougar offense heated up, Garcia retired 17 straight hitters after Cal State East Bay's two first-inning hits, holding the Pioneers without another baserunner until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Sprague was four-for-five with a double against Cal State East Bay, and Hernandez was three-for-four and scored twice as the Cougars produced 10 runs on 15 hits to score at least 10 runs for the 10th time this year.
Azusa Pacific improves to 22-19 overall with Saturday's victories, which were the final Division II non-conference matchups on the schedule. The Cougars went 6-4 against opponents from the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and were 7-6 overall against non-conference Division II foes. Azusa Pacific's return to PacWest play isn't for another two weeks, when it hosts California Baptist on Saturday, April 11, but the Cougars will host Biola University in non-conference action on Thursday, April 2.
