GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado scored in all but two innings on the way to an 8-5 victory over Sacramento State on Friday afternoon at Gloria Rodriguez Field.
Today marked the third day of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, and the Hornets' tourney run, and season, comes to an end. Sacramento State (27-23) went 1-2 at the tournament, which included yesterday's 8-7 loss to Weber State and 15-4 victory over Portland State. The Hornets had two days of games canceled because of rain prior to playing twice yesterday.
The win over Portland State set up today's elimination game vs. tournament host Northern Colorado. The Hornets swept the Bears (19-29) in three home games during the regular season, but Northern Colorado won today and advanced to play Idaho State later this afternoon. The winner of that game will play Weber State in the championship game on Saturday.
Though Sacramento State's season comes to an end, the team had a record breaking year which saw the Hornets set nine offensive program records. That includes batting average (.314), on-base percentage (.387), slugging percentage (.547), runs (293), doubles (80), home runs (67), RBIs (271), total bases (698) and stolen bases (74).
Six Hornets hit better than .330, including
Gwen Ludwig (.385),
Lafulafu Malepeai (.382),
Madison Evers-Lyles (.378),
Andrea Lira (.371),
Caroline Evans (.341) and
Katie Marsh (.331). Malepeai led all regulars in batting average, Evers-Lyles had a team-best 11 home runs, Lira a team-high 44 RBIs, and Marsh a team-best 15 doubles. Ludwig went 20-for-21 in the stolen base department, and the 20 bags tied the school record, set a year ago by
Haley Hanson.
In today's game, the Hornets opened the scoring with a run in the first inning via doubles from Marsh and Evers-Lyles. After Northern Colorado scored four times in the second to take a 4-1 lead, Lira tied things at 4-4 in the third with a three-run blast to left.
The Bears, however, scored twice in the fourth, and single runs in the fifth and sixth. Sacramento State scored in the top of the sixth to cut its deficit to 7-5 on an Evers-Lyles solo blast, but Northern Colorado tacked on an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning to take an 8-5 lead.
The Hornets got the potential game tying run to the plate in the seventh as back-to-back singles from Malepeai and Marsh had runners at first and second with two outs. However, Anna Wilming, who went the distance for the Bears, got Lira to fly out to right field and end the game.
The top four batters in the Hornet lineup combined to go 7-for-14 with five runs, three doubles, two homers and five RBIs. The bottom five hitters in the lineup went 2-for-14 without a run or an RBI. Malepeai, Marsh and Evers-Lyles each had a pair of hits. Evers-Lyles' 11 home runs are tied for the ninth best mark in Hornet single-season history, and are the second most by a Hornet freshman.
Today marked the final games in the careers of Malepeai, Evans, Ludwig and
Nikki Barboza. Evans is a three-time first team all-Big Sky selection and she finished with career marks of a .299 batting average and 3.37 ERA. Barboza hit .291 for her career in 164 games played.
