LAS VEGAS -- Azusa Pacific got a perfect start to the 2017 season, securing a winning outcome in all three of its games at the Desert Stinger Tournament in very different styles.
First, the Cougars opened with a complete-game three-hitter from Game 1 starter Carly Xepoleas in a 3-1 win over Western Oregon, and the bats came alive in a 12-4 mercy-rule win over Western New Mexico. Kayla Jimenez wrapped up the day with a clutch two-out game-winning hit in the seventh inning to lift Azusa Pacific to a 2-0 win over Cal State San Bernardino.
In the midst of it all, head coach Carrie Webber celebrated her 400th overall collegiate coaching victory, which includes 116 wins in five years at the junior college level to go with her 285 wins as a tenth-year head coach at Azusa Pacific.
Cayla Broussard sparked the offense all day, going four-for-eight with two walks, five runs, and four steals, and Jimenez and Nicki Sprague anchored the middle of the lineup by combining for nine of the Cougars' 13 RBIs as a team. Along with Xepoleas' three-hitter in the opener, Azusa Pacific's pitchers combined for a 1.84 ERA, as both Kat Ung and Megan Mejia combined for the shutout of Cal State San Bernardino.
The Cougars wrap up the Desert Stinger tournament with a pair of games Saturday, starting with a 2 p.m. matchup against tournament host Montana State Billings before wrapping up the opening weekend with a night game at 7 p.m. against Cal State Monterey Bay.
GAME 1: Azusa Pacific 3, Western Oregon 1
Xepoleas scattered three hits and three walks across seven innings to collect the victory in the 2017 season opener. After Western Oregon pushed a run across in the top of the third inning to break a scoreless tie, Azusa Pacific responded in the bottom of the third when Sprague tied the game with a two-out RBI single to score Abry Moreno from third. Broussard advanced to third on the hit and scored on an error to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
Xepoleas did not surrender another hit the rest of the game, and Broussard delivered a bases-loaded two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning to push across an insurance run. Azusa Pacific recorded three double plays in the game.
GAME 2: Azusa Pacific 12, Western New Mexico 4 (5 innings)
Sprague hit a two-run home run in a three-run first inning, and Jimenez added a two-run third-inning shot as the Cougars raced to a 12-1 lead in the third inning. Western New Mexico got a run back in the third and two more in the fourth before Mejia tossed a scoreless fifth to preserve the eight-run lead and invoke the mercy rule after five innings.
Watch Sprague's HR:
Led by a 4-for-4, 4-RBI performance from Jimenez, the first four hitters in the Azusa Pacific lineup combined to go 10-for-14 in the game. Illiana Jimenez registered two hits and scored twice, Broussard went 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBIs, and Sprague was also 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs. Ariana von Zboray picked up the win, striking out three in her four innings of work.
GAME 3: Azusa Pacific 2, Cal State San Bernardino 0: | Box Score
Both teams had their share of opportunities in six scoreless innings before Kayla Jimenez delivered a two-out bases-loaded single to score the only runs of the game. Cougar pitchers Kat Ung and Mejia combined for the shutout, as Ung started the game with four shutout innings before Mejia finished things off with three hitless frames to secure the victory.
Cal State San Bernardino twice loaded the bases with less than two outs, but Ung worked out of trouble in the fourth inning to keep the Coyotes off the scoreboard and third baseman Erinn Jaramillo made a diving stop at third base for an unassisted lineout double play in the sixth. Azusa Pacific subsequently capitalized on two CSUSB errors in the top of the seventh to load the bases with two outs for Jimenez, who delivered the game-winning hit.
Watch Kayla Jimenez's game-winning two-run single:
