THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Beneath sunny skies at Hutton Field the Regals softball team completed a 9-7 come-from-behind victory over George Fox to win game two of a double header and get in the win column of the young 2012 campaign. After opening league play against the No. 11 ranked team in Redlands on Saturday afternoon, the Regals fell in the non-conference opener on Sunday by a 10-5 margin before bouncing back in game two.
Box Score (Game 1): GFU 10, CLU 5 - F
Box Score (Game 2): CLU 9, GFU 7 - F
George Fox jumped out to early leads in both games, but the Regals erased a 6-0 deficit mid-way through game two to earn their first win of the season.
Trailing by six in the bottom of the fourth inning senior Sarah Lichtsinn launched a homerun to put CLU on the board.
It was the bottom of the fifth that was the golden inning for the Regals, though.
Kayla Sakamoto led off with a single, the first of two hits in the frame, sparking an inning that saw 12 batter step up to the plate. Kathleen Watson-Otani followed suit, putting runners at first and second. Junior transfer Shannon Tinsley then stroked a three-run shot to centerfield to shift the momentum on the field. Lichtsinn promptly connected for a double to left center, knocking Allyssa DenDecker, the game one victor who was on in relief of starting pitcher Taylor Whitmore, from the mound. Danika Green reached on a fielder's choice and with two outs the Regals strung together four consecutive hits. Katelyn Downing and pinch hitter Alex Templin singled before Sakamoto drove in two runs with a RBI double, her second hit of the inning, and Watson-Otani capped off the inning with an RBI single of her own.
Although the goal was to chip away at the lead, the hits started falling for the Regals, who finished with 12 in the game. Everyone contributed in that inning noted by Tinsley following the game by saying, "It was a total team effort."
Sakamoto, Watson-Otani, Lichtsinn, Green and Downing collected two hits apiece with Sakamoto and Lichtsinn each scoring twice.
Nicolby Atallah was the beneficiary of that fifth inning offensive outburst as she earned the win. The junior threw a complete game, striking out three and walking none as she allowed just four earned runs.
Although there were a number of defensive miscues today, there was a defensive spark in the top of the third. A hard hit ball skimmed Lichtsinn's glove and found its way right to Ryanna Morua who fired off to Brittany Labbe at first for the out to get the energy up.
In game one George Fox jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first on a line-drive solo homerun off the bat of Felicia Chavez. They then broke things open in the third with four runs on three hits, all for extra bases, knocking starting pitcher Katelyn Downing from the circle. Shonna Christianson came on in relief and tossed the final 4.2 innings, allowing just one earned run.
CLU threatened in the fourth. Labbe led off with an infield single before swiping second base. She came in to score as Green drew a one-out bases loaded walk. Unfortunately, DenDecker ended the inning with a strike out and ground out.
Sakamoto got the dugout fired up in the bottom of the fifth with her second hit of the game, a leadoff single to center. Watson-Otani then drew a walk and bumped GFU starting pitcher Kerrianne Davidson from the game. Labbe quickly layed down a sacrifice bunt and Tinsley went on to drive in Sakamoto on a ground out to the right side.
In the top of the sixth Sakamoto and Watson-Otani converged at the wall on a long fly ball but it was just out of both of their reach, ricocheting away for an RBI double for Bethany Chriss, extending the GFU lead to 7-2.
After hitting a long fly ball to left that hung up just a little for the third out of the second inning, Danika Green got all of the pitch she saw in the bottom of the sixth, launching a solo homerun, to close the gap to 7-3.
A rocky top of the seventh allowed three more GFU players to cross the plate. A late surge saw the Regals manufacture two more runs in the bottom of the inning with Sakamoto and Watson-Otani walking and singling, respectively before being driven in by Labbe and Tinsley.
Downing (0-5) was tagged with the loss while DenDecker picked up the win.
Overall today Watson-Otani was 4-for-6 with a pair of runs. Downing was 2-for-3 at the plate. Sakamoto scored four times and Tinsley drove in five. CLU was 3-for-3 today in stolen base attempts.
Head coach Debby Day said, "We came out of the chute and played three really strong teams and today's win was both a relief and a confidence booster." She went on, "We have talent, we just haven't put it all together yet."
Cal Lutheran (1-7) will look to build on their victory as they resume SCIAC play on Saturday, Jan. 18 when they travel to Occidental for a pair beginning at 12:00 p.m. on Bell Field.