TURLOCK —
Alexus Martinez's single up the middle provided the final drama in a wild, wild game as the Warriors rallied from behind to win 12-11 in 10 innings in the nightcap over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
The series finale victory gave Stanislaus State the win in the series, three games to one, for its first over the Toros since 2009. Dominguez Hills held off the Warriors, 3-2, in Wednesday's first game.
Stanislaus improved to 11-10 overall and 8-7 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The 8-win CCAA record is already better than last year's conference win-totals.
CSUDH came out swinging in the nightcap with six singles in the first inning to plate three runs, but the Warriors responded with five runs and the track meet was on. The teams tied at 6-6 after two innings and a five-run Toros fourth, which included a pinch-hit grand slam by Jazmyne Cortinas, gave them an 11-6 lead.
Luckily for the Warriors, Dominguez Hills (7-12, 4-8 CCAA) stopped at 11 runs in the fourth.
The Warriors kept coming back — with two runs in the fourth and fifth innings to get within one. In the home half of the seventh,
Ruby Quiralte's single up the middle scored
Cassidy Duke, who had doubled with one out, to force extra innings.
Stan State had a chance to win in the eighth with Martinez at second when
Morgan Balestreri dropped a hit to the left field line, but Toro leftfielder Madison Murphy made a great stop to keep the ball in front of her and threw to third to get Martinez, who was headed home but retreated.
In the Dominguez Hills 10th, the Toros got two runners on with one out. However,
Kylie Ragsdale got Damari Simon, who had homered twice on the day, to ground into a double play to end the threat.
Then, in the bottom of the 10th, Dorsey singled to lead off the inning and moved to second with one out on a grounder by
Jill Costa. Martinez then bounced one up the middle to score Dorsey for the walk-off win.
Martinez had another six-hit day, going 4-for-6 in the second game.
Katelyn McDonald, who was huge with a two-run double off the top of the fence in the first inning of game two, also had six hits in the twinbill. McDonald was 4-for-6 with five runs batted in in the nightcap. Quiralte ended up with three hits in game two while Dorsey went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
The first four batters in the Stanislaus lineup had 19 of the 27 hits on the day and went 19-for-35, scored eight runs and drove in eight.
Cal State Dominguez Hills had its offense going on Wednesday, tallying 20 hits and 14 runs, with three homers and four doubles. Simon was 4-for-9 with seven RBIs with two homers and a double to lead the Toros.
Ragsdale earned the win in the long nightcap as the starter re-entered in the top of the seventh to shut-down CSUDH.
Karina Callazo pitched four innings, and other than the five-run fourth, she put up zeros to keep the game close enable the offense to rally.