SACRAMENTO --
Lafulafu Malepeai combined for five hits, and
Caroline Evans had a pinch-hit three-run homer in the sixth inning of Game 2 to propel Sacramento State to a doubleheader sweep of Northern Colorado on Friday afternoon at Shea Stadium.
The Hornets won the first game, 10-3, before taking the nightcap by a 7-5 score. Sacramento State has now won six of its last seven games while improving to 19-18 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference. Northern Colorado, the defending Big Sky regular season and tournament champions, dropped to 12-26 and 3-5 in league.
The two teams will close out their three-game series tomorrow at noon.
Perhaps the biggest hit of the day was Evans' three-run shot to center. The Hornets were trailing, 5-4, in the bottom of the sixth, but saw
Katie Marsh and
Nikki Barboza get on base with no outs. Evans then stepped up - in her first pinch hitting role of the season - and crushed a 1-0 pitch over the center field wall to give the Hornets a 7-5 lead.
Right-hander
Alexa Ortiz allowed just one base runner in the seventh to nail down the win - and sweep. Ortiz picked up the victory in relief in both games this afternoon, combining to allow just five hits and one earned run with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings. She improved her record to 6-6.
Malepeai, the Hornets' leadoff hitter, had multiple hits in both contests. She finished the day 5-for-8 with a double, home run, stolen base and three RBIs. In the process, she raised her batting average .371. If that wasn't enough, she also made two diving catches in left field, including a huge snag with one out in the seventh inning of Game 2.
Katie Marsh (3),
Andrea Lira (3),
Jenna Birch (2) and
Madison Evers-Lyles (2) also finished the day with multiple hits. Evers-Lyles finished with three RBIs, including a two-out, two-run single in Game 2 that gave the Hornets a brief 4-2 lead in the fifth.
Gwen Ludwig, a fourth-year senior who has battled injuries all season, swiped her 44th career base in Game 1, becoming Sacramento State's all-time leader in stolen bases. She had been tied with former Hornet
Haley Hanson. The Hornets were a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base opportunities today, which saw six different players swipe a bag.
In Game 1, Sacramento State scored in five of its six innings of at-bats, including crooked numbers in the first (2), fifth (2) and sixth (4) innings. In Game 2, the Hornets, once again, had three innings of crooked numbers, including the first (2), fifth (2) and sixth (3) innings. In the nightcap, the Bears had a 2-0 lead in the first and a 5-4 lead in the sixth, but Sacramento State immediately answered with runs on both occasions.
Not only did Evans have the big moment offensively in Game 2, but she also pitched well in Game 1 - allowing zero earned runs in 3.2 innings of work.
