Cal out of NCAA tournament
EDMOND, Okla. – Inclement weather forced the NCAA to move its Division II softball championship to Oklahoma Christian, but the change of venue didn’t help California University against Dixie State.
Dixie State, which had beaten the Vulcans 2-0, in the opening round of the tournament Thursday, ended California’s season with a 10-6 victory Sunday night, advancing to the NCAA championship game.
Dixie State (53-7) will face the winner of Sunday night’s game between Shorter and North Georgia that was not scheduled to start until 10:45 p.m. North Georgia defeated Shorter, 8-0, earlier in the day to force the rematch.
California, which finishes its season at 43-14, did get to the Red Storm’s unbeaten starting pitcher Michelle Duncan, knocking her out of the game in the second inning.
Duncan, who entered with a 31-0 record, allowed three hits, three walks and five runs, one of which was earned, in 1 2/3 inning before being replaced by Aryn Fickert. Fickert, however, limited California to just one run over the final five innings, allowing just one hit.
The Vulcans fell behind 3-0 in the first inning as Alex Sagl was replaced after just two batters after allowing a leadoff walk and a triple to make it 1-0.
Meghan Uher relieved her and allowed an RBI single and another runner to score on an illegal pitch to make it 3-0.
But Cal scored five times in the bottom of the second, including two runs on a fielder’s choice by Kaity Finley, with the second run scoring on a throwing error.
The Vulcans made it 6-3 in the bottom of the third on a single by Hailey Wilson of Feickert.
But the Red Storm regained the lead by scoring five runs of their own in the top of the fourth, aided by a pair of throwing errors on the Vulcans.
Sagl re-entered the game and allowed a pair of runs to score on sacrifice flys in the top of the sixth inning for Dixie State, which had 13 hits in the game, including three each by Courtney Hine and Josie Hartman.