THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The 2016 Cal Lutheran softball campaign started with a bang as the Regals downed St. Katherine's College twice, 4-3 and 6-3, on an overcast afternoon at Hutton Field.
Numerous players stepped up and today was a total team effort in all 14 innings of action. Overall, CLU combined for six runs on 18 hits, including five doubles, a triple and a homerun from senior Blake Lewis, with a pair of stolen bases. The Regals hit at a .519 clip as a unit with Andrea Brackpool going 3-for-4 with a two doubles and two RBIs. B. Lewis finished the day 4-for-6 with three runs and a trio of RBIs. Both Hannah Brown and Amanda Lewis collected three hits apiece with a stolen base. In the circle, Courtney Sooy and Nicole White-Madolora each tossed a complete game for the Violet and Gold.
Sooy started her junior campaign with a strike on the first pitch of the season and CLU escaped the first frame unscathed after a pair of STK hits. Two scoreless innings were followed by a suicide squeeze from St. Katherine's to push the first run of the game across the plate.
Leading off the sixth, Mikaela Mayhewstroked a triple over the right fielder's head and she slid home with the tying run one batter later. Brackpool, pinch hitting, doubled to right center and A. Lewis promptly followed suit by driving in Jacy Watanabe, who reentered the game, with the ultimate winning run. CLU would tack on two more with a B. Lewis RBI single that score A. Lewis after she stole second and advanced 60 feet on a wild pitch and a STK error that allowed Brown to cross the plate for a 4-1 advantage with three outs to get.
St. Katherine's would not go away quietly, stringing together four hits, plating a pair before the final out was recorded on a circus catch in right centerfield after Brown and Brittany Reed collided and Reed snagged the ball before it hit the ground.
Game two started the same way as the first with starting pitcher White-Madolora throwing a strike for her first pitch wearing Violet and Gold. Again, St. Katherine's scored first on two hits in the opening frame.
The difference came in the bottom of the second when CLU took a lead it would not relinquish en route to the win. Brackpool hit a nearly identical double as game one, driving in both B. Lewis and Brown who each doubled in the frame as well. Antonia Rapisardi got in on the offense with an RBI single and CLU combined for five hits and three runs. The Regals tacked on a fourth run in the bottom of the third when White-Madolora aided her own cause with a sacrifice fly for the game-winning run.
CLU got out of a bases loaded game by playing smart softball. Back-to-back plays at the plate, the first from White-Madolora to catcher Abbigael Howard and the second from Monique Ramirezto Howard, and a weak ground ball to B. Lewis at first base ended the threat.
B. Lewis launched a two-run homerun that bounced off the top of the left field wall to extend the CLU lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth after STK added a second run in the top of the inning. St. Katherine would add one more in the sixth, though it was unearned.
Mayhew notched the first hit of the season for the Regals in the bottom of the third inning of game one. Ramirez, Reed and White-Madolora each made her Cal Lutheran debut today. Brackpool returned to the diamond after being out for the 2015 season.
Cal Lutheran (2-0) will return to Hutton Field on Tuesday, Feb. 2 to host Hope International for a pair beginning at noon.
Box Score: CLU 4, STK 3
Box Score: CLU 6, STK 3
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