SACRAMENTO - The CSUB softball team continued doing the splits Sunday afternoon, sharing the spoils in its fifth consecutive doubleheader. The Roadrunners took game one from Sacramento State, 3-2 in eight innings, before Sac State won the nightcap, 8-0, at Shea Stadium in Sacramento.
Per conference rule, CSUB played as the home team in Sunday's twinbill.
CSUB got another solid effort from senior Shawna Truan (McArthur/Fall River HS) in the circle. She allowed just two runs over eight innings to earn her seventh victory of the season. Battery mate Jaimey Kleinsmith (Santa Maria/College of the Sequoias) played the hero's role on offense, hitting a pair of doubles, including the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.
Truan was dominant early, not allowing a ball to leave the infield until the 15th Hornet had come to the plate. Nevertheless, Sac State forged a 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a bunt single, a stolen base and a pair of sacrifices.
The Roadrunners broke through in the fourth. A leadoff single by Ryane Petersen (Fresno/Fresno State) and Kleinsmith's first double set the table for Danielle Lyman (Moreno Valley/Canyon Springs HS), who laced a two-out, two-run single to left to put CSUB on top, 2-1.
Things got a little dicey for the Roadrunners after Jillian Canete tied the game with a run-scoring single in the sixth. Emily McCormick led off the Sac State eight with a double. The wind then blew Megan Schaefer's fly ball to medium left into a double that eluded the diving attempt of Stefanie Frei (Valencia/Canyon Country HS). But since the win blew the ball back towards third base, McCormick could advance no further than third. From there, Truan coaxed three infield outs to end the threat.
Petersen and Kristen Archuleta (Hollister/San Benito HS) led off the eighth with singles in front of Kleinsmith, whose shot to the gap in left center allowed Petersen to score standing up.
Senior pitcher Katie Chavez (Fresno/Edison HS) ran into some tough luck to start the second game. Sac State scored twice in the first on a walk, a wind-blown double, and an error. A walk and a home run in the third inning allowed the Hornets to grab a 4-0 lead despite owning just two hits.
But the CSUB bats couldn't solve Hornet starter Shelby Voelz, who set the Roadrunners down on four hits, striking out four and walking none. Marissa Navarro added a three-run homer in the sixth to put the game on ice.
In addition to Kleinsmith, senior third baseman Kelli Bailey (Rodeo/John Swett HS) paced the Roadrunner offense by going 4-for-7 with a double. She is 10-for -21 (.476) during her current seven-game hitting streak.
CSUB (21-31, 8-8 PCSC) returns home to close the 2010 season with a four-game set against Saint Mary's College May 7-8 at the Roadrunner Softball Complex. A sweep of the conference leading Gaels (8-3 in the PCSC) could put the Roadrunners in position to take first place in the Coastal Division in their first season of conference play.
