March 15, 2006

Box Score

FULLERTON, CA - Cal State Fullerton sophomore Kiki Munoz's sacrifice fly drove home Katie Gollhardt with the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth as the Titans opened play at the Judi Garman Classic Presented by Coach USA with a 3-2 victory over Notre Dame on Wednesday night.

The win upped Fullerton's record to 15-13 overall while sending the Irish to 9-8 overall.

With Gollhardt on second due to the international tie breaker, sophomore Jenna Wheeler placed a perfect sacrifice bunt down in front of the plate to move Gollhardt to third. That brought up Munoz, who sent the second pitch from Heather Booth (4-5) deep to centerfield, allowing Gollhardt to scamper home with the game-winning run.

Notre Dame had a golden opportunity in its half of the eighth as Alex Kotcheff was placed on second and was moved to third when Steph Brown's bunt squirted past all the infielders for an apparent infield single. However, the home plate umpire ruled that Brown was standing on home plate when she contacted the ball and called the batter out, sending Kotcheff back to second.

Baker (10-4) then retired Sara Schoonaert on a ground ball and induced Mallorie Lenn into an inning-ending foul out to end the threat.

The Fighting Irish jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with single runs in the first two innings. Meagan Ruthrauff had an RBI single in the first to score Brown for the 1-0 advantage and Katie Laing led off the second with a home run to left to make it 2-0.

Fullerton answered back with a run in the second as senior Ashlee Weatherford doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third on Crystal Vieyra's ground out, and scored when Candice Baker's potential inning-ending ground ball was bobbled by the shortstop, allowing Weatherford to score and make it 2-1.

The Titans got even in the fifth as Ashley Van Boxmeer reached on a two-out double and scored one batter later when Gollhardt's bloop single fell in front of a diving Sarah Smith to make it 2-2.

Baker allowed just three hits on the night while walking two and striking out nine to earn her career-best 10th win of the season from the circle in the complete-game effort.

Booth allowed just one earned run on five hits, walking three and striking out five in 7 2/3 innings of work in the loss.

Van Boxmeer led all players with two hits on the night for the Titans.

Cal State Fullerton returns to action on day two of the Judi Garman Classic on Thursday (March 16) at approximately 6:15 p.m. as the Titans take on Florida State.