Cal softball wins opener, then falls to WVW
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – West Virginia Wesleyan scored three runs each in the bottom of the second and sixth innings to get past California University, 6-1, Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division II softball playoffs.
Cal lost for only the fifth time in 41 games and will play an elimination game at 10 a.m. today against either Bloomsburg or Winston-Salem State.
The 12th-ranked Bobcats advance to the finals of the winner’s bracket and will play today at 12:30 p.m.
Morgan Bruce had a two-run single in the bottom of the second and Jessica Rodriguez added an RBI single for the 3-0 lead.
In the sixth inning, Bruce scored on an error to make it 4-1, Brooke Waddell singled in a run and Tori Pogue scored on a double steal later in the inning.
Meanwhile, Hannah Vet allowed an unearned run in the top of the first on an Emile Downing single after West Virginia Wesleyan committed two errors, then shut the Vulcans down the rest of the way. Vet get 16 groundball outs did not strike out a batter or walk a batter.
Earlier in the day, Cal defeated fourth-seeded Bloomsburg, 3-1, in a rematch of last weekend’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship at Culpepper Field.
In the top of the sixth, the Vulcans took the lead on a leadoff home run by sophomore center fielder Jacquelyn Fowler, her seventh of the season.
Erica Vallecorsa had an RBI single later in the inning.
Cal added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to make it 3-1 when Taylor Robblee drove in a run on an infield single.
Robblee finished 3-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored, while Fowler went 2-for-4 with a solo homer. Alex Sagl earned the win to improve to 15-3 this season after allowing one earned run while scattering three hits and two walks over seven innings.