CLERMONT, Fla. (March 4) – The Vulcans registered a split at the PFX Spring Games on Saturday against a pair of teams that combined for over 90 wins last year and made the NCAA Tournament in the Central Region, earning a 6-2 victory against Minnesota State before suffering a 4-1 loss to No. 18 Washburn (Kan.).
With the split, the California (PA) softball team moves to 6-6 this season behind a 2-4 mark while in Florida. The Vulcans have already faced six teams this spring that appeared in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Against Minnesota State (8-3), freshman
Madison Lester (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) earned her first career victory on Saturday. She allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks while tallying three strikeouts over 7.0 innings.
The Vulcans raced out to a 3-0 lead after collecting five singles in the top of the first. Junior designated player
Alyssa Rose (Madison, Ohio/Madison) delivered a two-out RBI single before junior first baseman
Shayna Postler (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) and sophomore shortstop
Kaitlyn Achtermeier (Gilford, Ontario/Bill Crothers) later followed with back-to-back RBI singles. Cal added to the lead with one run in the top of the third after benefiting from a pair of errors.
In the fifth, Cal mounted a two-out rally to stretch the lead to 6-0 behind an RBI double by Achtermeier and an RBI single by junior catcher
Britney Wilson (Coraopolis, Pa./West Allegheny). The Mavericks answered with one run in both the fifth and sixth innings to cut the deficit to 6-2.
Achtermeier finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored, while Postler reached base three times (single, error, walk).
The meeting between the Mavericks and Vulcans featured a pair of NFCA Hall of Fame coaches in Lori Meyer, the winningest coach in NCAAA Division II history, and
Rick Bertagnolli. Minnesota State finished last year with a 48-14 record before being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by eventual-National Champion Rogers State (Okla.), which Cal faced on Thursday.
Against Washburn (21-3), the game remained scoreless through five innings before the Ichabods scored four unearned runs in the top of the sixth. Sophomore
Caleigh Rister (Bucyrus, Ohio/Bucyrus) was saddled with the loss after yielding four runs (all unearned) on nine hits in 5.2 innings (99 pitches). Washburn junior Jaycee Ginter (15-1), a 2022 NFCA First-Team All-American, earned the complete-game victory after allowing one run (unearned) on four hits with eight strikeouts over 7.0 innings (103 pitches).
The Ichabods loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first before a ground-out ended the inning. In the bottom of the first, junior right fielder
Charity Henderson (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland) reached on a two-out double and Rose then reached on a walk before a pop-up ended the threat.
Rister again forced Washburn to leave the bases loaded in the second inning before the Ichabods also stranded a runner in scoring position in the third. The Ichabods later capitalized on two errors in the sixth, as they scored four runs to take a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Achtermeier delivered a two-out RBI double to score Rose from first.
Washburn finished last year with a 45-15 mark after falling to Rogers State in the MIAA Championship in extra innings and losing to both Minnesota State and Winona State (Minn.), which the Vulcans faced yesterday, in the NCAA Tournament.
Cal returns to action in Florida on Monday, March 6, when it faces Bemidji State (Minn.) and Cedarville (Ohio), starting at 9 a.m.
