Women's Softball
4/1/2008 - Garcia Near Perfect, Royals Split With Eagles
Buena Park, CA- Playing at home for the first time in twenty games, the Royals welcomed GSAC rival Biola on Tuesday and won the first game 8-0 in five innings. The Eagles pulled off the split with a 5-1 win in Game 2. Sophomore pitcher Sabrina Garcia did not disappoint the hometown fans as she threw 8 and 2/3 innings of shutout ball- including a five inning complete game in Game 1.
Garcia was far from overbearing as she did not strikeout one batter but still managed to face the minimum (15 batters) over five innings. She had a no hitter going into the fifth until giving up a lead off double to Krista Johnson. The next batter she induced into a lineout double play to second. The only other Eagle to reach base safely came via a walk and was thrown out trying to steal second.
With the win, Garcia improved to 7-11 on the season.
The offense was lead by the freshman connection of Alexis Hurley, Caitlin Angel, Allison Hofstetter, and Dani Robison. All four Royals finished with 2 hits each- including a double for Hurley, Angel, and Hofstetter. The trio also accounted for all six runs batted in. Hurley drove in three runners to raise her GSAC leading total to 45. Robison scored a team high 2 runs for the game.
In Game 2, the Eagles quickly made up for their hitting deficiency of Game 1 by collecting 5 hits (all singles) and pushing across 2 runs in the first inning.
The Royals answered with a run in the second as Hofstetter would cross the dish after errant throw from the Eagles.
The Eagles answered with three runs in the fourth with the help of two big errors from the Royals.
Hope had their chances as they collected nine hits. Unfortunately, they could not find the right combination of those hits as they left nine runners stranded on the base paths.
Hofstetter continued her hot hitting as she went 2-3 with another double to finish the day 4-6 with 2 doubles. Freshman Cassandra Lewein went 3 for 4 to wrap up the day 4-7.
With the split, the Royals and Eagles finished the day with the same overall record of 17-17. The Eagles (4-8) maintained their one game lead over the Royals (3-9) in the GSAC standings.
The Royals will host the Cougars of Azusa Pacific on Saturday at George Bellis Park. The first pitch of the GSAC double header is scheduled for noon.