LOS ANGELES ? The CSUB softball team continued to pound the ball while adding its best pitching of the season to win twice Sunday and finish a perfect 4-0 at the LMU Invitational on Smith Field.
CSUB (4-4 overall) used a six-run fourth inning to blow open a close game and win going away over Illinois-Chicago, 10-3. In the tournament's final game, junior pitcher Katie Chavez (Fresno/Edison HS) tossed her second career two-hitter in a 4-0 win over Loyola Marymount. The win over LMU completed a game halted by rain in the second inning Friday afternoon.
Chavez's gem was the highlight of the day, as the Roadrunner pitching staff had struggled against top-flight competition in the first two weeks of the season. She allowed just a two-out single in the first inning and an infield single in the fifth.
Before Friday's rains came, CSUB established a 2-0 lead thanks to two hits, an error and a wild pitch. While Chavez was mowing down the Lions, her offense added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning on Jaimey Kleinsmith's two-out, two-run single.
As they did throughout the tournament, the 'Runners jumped to an early lead against UIC, going ahead 1-0 on Kelli Bailey's two-out single in the second. Things got dicey for CSUB in the fourth, however, when UIC scored twice and loaded the bases with nobody out. But Brittany Johnson fanned Alicia Abbott then coaxed Kelsey Sturgeon into a double play grounder to end the threat.
The 'Runners blew the game open in their half of the fourth. Kleinsmith's bases-clearing double was the big blow in the six-run outburst. Danielle Lyman added an RBI double of her own.
Lyman finished the best four-game stretch of her career, ending the day 6-for-7. Kleinsmith went 2-for-4 with four RBI.
CSUB will return to Bakersfield to play its home openers next weekend. The 'Runners will host single games against UC Santa Barbara and Santa Clara Saturday. They will conclude a three-game set against Santa Clara with a doubleheader Sunday.
| TEAMS | 123
| 456
| 7
| --
| R
| H
| H
|
Illinois-Chicago (2-5)
| 000
| 210
| 0
| --
| 3
| 4
| 3
|
CSU Bakersfield (3-4)
| 010
| 603
| 0
| --
| 10
| 13
| 2
|
Hewett and Chavez; Johnson and Kleinsmith. WP ? Brittany Johnson (1-2). LP ? Ashley Hewitt (n/a).
2B ? Kleinsmith (B), Lyman (B), Frydendall (UIC).
TEAMS
| 123
| 456
| 7
| --
| R
| H
| E
|
CSU Bakersfield (4-4)
| 020
| 000
| 2
| --
| 4
| 7
| 1
|
Loyola Marymount (6-4)
| 000
| 000
| 0
| --
| 0
| 2
| 2
|
Chavez and Muro; Dykema, Goodman (3) and Tysdal. WP ? Katie Chavez (2-1). LP ? Melissa Dykema (4-1).
2B ? None.
