May 16, 2015 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – The top-seeded California University softball team won the NCAA Super Atlantic Regional Championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the sixth time in school history Saturday afternoon with a 6-2 victory against second-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan in eight innings at Lilley Field.

No. 21 Cal improved to 41-11 overall and will face No. 4 Dixie State (Utah) Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Red Storm (49-7) earned the West Region title for the second-straight year Sunday with a 6-0 victory over Sonoma State.

No. 22 West Virginia Wesleyan ended with a 38-10 overall record with the three of their losses coming against Cal.

The two teams were tied, 2-2, after seven innings before the Vulcans batted around and scored four runs in the top of the eighth. Junior first baseman Lindsay Reicoff led off with a single through the middle before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt. Freshman center fielder Jacquelyn Fowler followed with a single down the right-field line that allowed Reicoff to score from second. After another sacrifice bunt, sophomore catcher Megan Jahoda delivered an RBI single and junior second baseman Erica Vallecorsa lined an RBI double to right center. Following a pitching change, freshman left fielder Courtney Sinclair drew a five-pitch walk before sophomore right fielder Kaity Finley added an insurance run with an RBI single.

In the bottom of the eighth, West Virginia Wesleyan got a single and walk with one out. Shortstop Rebekah Honce then hit the ball into shallow right field that forced the runners to hold and allowed Finley to throw out the lead runner at third base. The game ended with a line-out to third base, as Cal secured its first berth to the NCAA Championships since 1999.

Junior Alex Sagl improved to 27-4 after winning her 17th straight decision. She allowed two earned runs and scattered eight hits and one walk over eight innings on 136 pitches. Sagl forced the Bobcats to leave eight runners on base, including seven in scoring position. West Virginia Wesleyan starter Hannah Vet (20-5) suffered the loss after yielding six earned runs on 11 hits and no walks in 7 2/3 innings.

Second baseman Brooklyn Waddell belted a solo homer to lead off the bottom half of the inning to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. The Bobcats threatened by putting runners on second and third with one out in the third before Sagl induced back-to-back fly-outs to end the threat.

In the top of the fourth, Reicoff reached on a leadoff single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI double by Fowler. Freshman designated player Hailey Wilson followed with an infield single that allowed Fowler to move to third. Fowler scored on a sacrifice fly by Jahoda to give the Vulcans a 2-1 lead. West Virginia Wesleyan answered in the bottom of the inning with a game-tying solo homer by Honce.

Finley went 3-for-5 with one RBI for her 22nd multi-hit game while hitting leadoff. Fowler finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, and Reicoff added two hits and scored twice.

Notes

The Vulcans made appearances at the NCAA Championships five times in six years from 1994-99 and won the title in 1997 and 1998 … Sagl allowed a combined four runs in the NCAA Super Regional, all solo homers … West Virginia Wesleyan entered the weekend with the top batting average in NCAA Division II … Fowler went a combined 5-for-7 with three RBI and three runs scored over the weekend.