• Box Score vs. Wheeling Jesuit
• Box Score vs. West Liberty

RALEIGH, N.C. (Feb. 15) – The California University of Pennsylvania softball team opened the Shaw (N.C.) Challenge on Friday with a 5-0 victory over Wheeling Jesuit and a 10-2 run-rule win against West Liberty.

With the wins, the Vulcans improve to 7-0 this season. Cal U has out-scored its opponents by a 54-17 margin with three run-rule victories.

Against Wheeling Jesuit (1-4), freshman Alex Sagl (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Trafalgar) tossed a four-hit, complete-game shutout and set a career high with 12 strikeouts. She now holds a 3-0 record and leads the team with 23 strikeouts and a 0.40 ERA in 17.1 innings pitched.

The Vulcans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third with a two-run single by junior right fielder Stephani Ellis (Vancouver, British Columbia/Prince of Wales Secondary). In the fourth, Cal U added to its lead with a solo homer by freshman third baseman Natalya Smarra (McKees Rocks, Pa./Sto-Rox). The Vulcans then extended the lead in the top of the seventh with a two-run homer by freshman first baseman Lindsay Reicoff (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley), 5-0.

While hitting cleanup, Ellis paced the offense by going 3-for-4 with two RBI and Reicoff collected a pair of hits and two RBI.

Wheeling Jesuit starter Ashley Nichols suffered the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits while working all 7.0 innings.

Versus West Liberty (0-2), junior Hope Spancake (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) earned the win after tossing 3.0 innings of one-hit relief. Reicoff started the game and took a no-decision after yielding two runs (one earned) in 3.0-plus innings.

In the bottom of the first, Cal U took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double by Ellis. The Hilltoppers tied the game in the third before the Vulcans reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning when Ellis scored on a double by sophomore shortstop Breanna Morris (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg Central), 2-1.

Both teams also scored one run in the fourth before the Vulcans posted five runs in the fifth. Morris lined an RBI ground-rule double before Smarra collected a bases-loaded walk. Freshman Erica Vallecorsa (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) then cleared the bases with a three-run double. Cal U forced the run-rule victory in the sixth when two runs scored on an error with the bases loaded.

Reicoff finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the nightcap, while Morris and Sagl both collected a pair of hits.

West Liberty starter Paige Creamer was saddled with the loss after being roughed up for seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and five walks in 4.1 innings.

The Vulcans continue play at the Shaw Challenge tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 16, when they face Fairmont State and Mount Olive (N.C.), starting at 1 p.m.