LISA RISTING | staff writer
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Lisa Risting
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| Sophomore outfielder NICOLE LLORENS steps up to the plate against Cal Baptist on Saturday, March 7. |
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The first game of a softball double-header on Saturday, March 7 against the Cal Baptist Lancers resulted in a 2-0 victory for Azusa Pacific.
The Cougars were competing against a Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) opponent that had a 18-0 record, which brought a chance for an upset.
Starting pitcher Camille Hundley, being in her fourth year of playing with the Cougars, remembered numerous games against the Lancers.
“For four years, there’s at least one game where it’s 1-nothing or 4-3, where we just miss winning against Cal Baptist.” Hundley said.
With this knowledge in mind, Hundley went into the game with the goal of staying relaxed.
“I have this new concept of calming myself and concentrating on one pitch at a time instead of focusing on everything about the game.” Hundley said.
This new concept worked for Hundley as she had 7 strikeouts and just 4 base runners in the first game against Cal Baptist.
In the first inning after a Lancer error, senior outfielder Erica Navarrete made it to first, followed by a single by junior pitcher and first baseman Erin Halma putting two players on base.
It was catcher Natalie Mickelson’s hit that brought in Navarrete and Halma for APU’s only two-runs.
Mickelson is the current leading hitter for Azusa with a .400 average.
“[I’m] just focusing on hitting the ball hard, not really the outcome because when you hit the ball hard, good things happen,” Mickelson said. “The past three practices we’ve been having really hard practices so [we’re] just trying to take our practices into the game.”
The Cougars scored their first and only runs in the first inning, forcing Azusa to keep Cal Baptist from scoring.
Shortstop Leslie-Anne Picone aided with limiting the Lancers base runs with an important tag out on second base in the fourth inning. After a debate between Lancer Coach Mike Smith and umpire on the call, the play stood.
“All I had to do was put my glove out and tag her. They said it was obstruction, but the ball was clearly there,” Picone said.
The first game ended in a 2-0 Cougar victory and the first conference win this season.
The win also ended the 8-year losing streak to the Lancers.
Head Coach Carrie Webber celebrated the success of her team that had had a rough run for the last few games.
“This was kind of the hump game for us, and if we got over the hump things were going to kind of go well for us,” Webber said. “No better team to do it to than [Cal Baptist]. We just handed them their first loss of the season.”
This victory kept smiles on the teams faces as they waited for game two of the doubleheader to get under way.
Webber hoped the win would carry over success to the second game.
“I think it’ll do wonders for our team and how we progress throughout the season,” Webber said. “We hope to take this momentum into the second game and surprise them and take two from them.”
At the beginning of game two the Lancers came out strong with two runs in the first inning.
This set the tone for the rest of the game with the Lancers coming back with a 8-0 victory over the Cougars.
Although success may not have been carried over into game two, Azusa Pacific still left the field Saturday with a GSAC win.
Prior to the first pitch, the Lancers were ranked first in GSAC and the Cougars held the sixth place position.
Currently, the Cougars have moved into the the fifth place spot in the conference standings and the Lancers have fallen to the third place.
The Cougars held a record of 1-3 in the GSAC and 9-9 before playing Dominican University yesterday.
Softball will play on Saturday, March 14 in an away game against Vanguard University.
