Cal Poly seniors Stephanie Payan and Roni Sparrey powered the Mustangs'
offense on Sunday afternoon, combining to drive in five of the team's
seven runs and help lead the Mustangs' to a 7-5 senior day win over Cal
State Fullerton in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Cal State Fullerton fell to 17-32 overall, 6-12 in the Big West. Cal Poly
improved to 20-27, 8-10 in league play.
Once again it was the big inning that sparked the Mustangs offense. One
day after scoring five runs in the second inning in Saturday's first game,
Cal Poly put up four in the second on Sunday, keyed by the bat of Sparrey,
who tripled down the right field line with the bases loaded to make it
4-0.
That hit followed an RBI single by Payan, who drove home the Mustangs'
first run of the game.
The Titans finally broke through against Vanderbeek in the third, putting
runners on second and third with one away. That brought up Candice Baker,
who hit a slicing single to left to drive home Monica Tantlinger. Jenna
Wheeler then followed with a run-scoring fielder's choice to keep runners
at the corners and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Fullerton kept the pressure on when Porsha Draper's dribbler to first
was fielded, but the first baseman did not tag out Draper, electing to
throw home to catch Baker. However, the throw was late and Draper reached
on a fielder's choice, bringing the Titans to within 4-3.
That was the end of Vanderbeek as Emily Hively (10-14), who earned the
win in both games on Saturday, came in and got Tiffany Hoff to ground
into a double play and stop the bleeding.
Cal Poly answered back with three runs of its own in the bottom of the
third on a two-run single by Chelsy Stoufer and another run-scoring base
hit by Payan to regain the four-run advantage at 7-3.
The Titan offense wasn't finished, however, loading the bases with no
outs and scoring a pair on a passed ball and a run-scoring double by Lindsey
Bashor to make it 7-5.
After a leadoff single in the seventh, Hively then set down the Titans
in order to earn her third win of the weekend.
Baker (4-16) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on four hits, walking
three and striking out three.
Watson, Bashor, and Wheeler each had two hits to lead Fullerton's offense.
Cal State Fullerton concludes the regular season
next weekend with a three-game at UC Santa Barbara beginning on Friday
(May 14) with single game at 3 p.m., and a doubleheader on Saturday (May
15) beginning at noon.
