CHICO —
Meghan Franksen is back — and that's great news for the Cal State Stanislaus softball team as the Warriors swept Chico State, 6-3 and 4-0, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association doubleheader Friday at University Field.
Franksen, the junior shortstop who entered the season with a .332 career batting average, went 6-for-8 and drove in four runs with a double and a triple in the twinbill. Behind the pitching of
Jessica Gaumnitz and
Jennifer Arnold, Cal State Stanislaus picked up a pair of much-needed wins.
Alyssa Guzman drove in two runs with a triple in the first inning of Friday's game one to give Stanislaus a 2-0 lead. Franksen then added two runs with a home run in the fifth inning that also scored
Britney Borba, who tripled with two outs.
With her third home run of the season, Franksen became CSUS's career leader in home runs with 21.
Gaumnitz gave up three runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings in the opener for the win. After Gaumnitz gave up a run with two doubles in the seventh, she gave way to
Stacey Hains with two outs as Hains got a fly out to earn her first save.
In the nightcap, Franksen's triple in the fifth scored
Sarah Shamblin, who led off the frame with a double. The Warriors added two runs in the seventh to give Arnold insurance runs.
Arnold pitched brilliantly in the a six-hit shutout. Chico State had two runners on with one out in both the first and third innings, but the sophomore pitcher got out of both jams. Arnold shut down the Wildcats through the middle part of the game, allowing just two base runners after two on, one-out in the third. She retired 12 of the last 14 batters faced.
Franksen, who struggled offensively through the first 14 games of the season, finally turned it on last Saturday against Humboldt State after she belted a solo homer. Since that home run, she's gone 9-for-12. She was batting .175 after the four-game set at Cal State Monterey Bay on Feb. 23 and is now leading the team offensively with a .300 batting average after extending her hitting streak to six games.
The same two teams will go at it again Saturday with game one of the doubleheader starting at Noon.
