May 23, 2011

GULF SHORES, Ala. – (Box Score) Sloan McHann’s eighth-inning walk-off home run guided California Baptist (64-3) to a 3-2 victory over Cal State San Marcos (44-10) in double-elimination bracket play at the 2011 NAIA Softball National Championship Monday at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.

The Lancers went 2-0 on day one of bracket play and will face Oregon Tech Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. in a semifinal contest. The Cougars fall to the loser’s bracket where they will battle William Carey (Miss.) today at 5:30 p.m. in an elimination game. Both contests will be video-streamed live at www.WatchNAIA.com.

Brenna Sandberg sat down eight straight California Baptist batters before McHann crushed her 1-0 offering to straightaway center to send the Lancer dugout into a frenzy. Sandberg (40-9) gave up two earned runs on six hits in seven innings of work.

The swing made a winner out of Emma Holden (34-1) who twirled three innings of perfect relief, while striking out seven batters. Courtney McGee worked 2.2 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief for Cal Baptist and got out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the third when she entered the game.

McHann finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while Tina Galinato went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Alyssa Dronenburg finished 1-for-3 with one RBI for the Cougars.

The Cougars had taken a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning thanks to a RBI-single from Dronenburg and a bases loaded walk that chased starter Tory Ferreira. That held up until the bottom of the fifth inning when a pair of Cougar errors handed Cal Baptist the tying run.

From there, Sandberg and Holden remained in a pitchers’ duel until McHann’s final swing.

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