Titans Falter Against Cal, Land in Losers’ Bracket

FRESNO — California moved into the driver’s seat as the only unbeaten team in the NCAA regional softball tournament at Fresno State Friday night, thanks to a 3-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton.

The Bears (47-22) held off a late rush by the Titans, who closed the gap to one run in the sixth inning on a two-run homer by Yasmin Mossadeghi.

Fullerton (45-14) and Fresno State (52-13) meet in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. today. The top-seeded Bulldogs were upset, 1-0, earlier Friday by fourth-seeded Florida.

“We’re excited about playing Fresno,” Titan Coach Michelle Gromacki said. “We expected to be playing them because we thought we’d win this game and Fresno State would win theirs.”

The winner of the Fullerton-Fresno State game will meet Cal at 7:30 tonight.

The Gators (45-29) got only one hit off Fresno pitcher Amanda Scott, but it led to the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Jennifer Lutsi’s drive to center bounced off the top of the center-field fence and fell back into play for a double. Lutsi advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Breanne Berger’s one-out ground ball to third. Renise Landry held Fresno to three hits.

Fifth-seeded Texas (30-26-1), coached by former Cal State Fullerton All-American pitcher Connie Clark, eliminated Maryland Baltimore County, 6-0, in a losers’ bracket game. The Longhorns’ Carmen Martinez pitched a two-hitter, striking out eight and walking two. Texas plays Florida today at 5.

With one starting pitcher, Gina Oaks, sidelined with mononucleosis, Gromacki decided to stay with freshman Jodie Cox, who started the opener against Texas. California got to Cox for two runs in the first inning.

A single by Eryn Manahan, and two walks, the last one intentional, loaded the bases with one out. Lisa Iancin singled up the middle, scoring two runs. Cox escaped without more damage when she struck out two consecutive batters with the bases loaded.

Nicole DiSalvio was the starting pitcher for Cal. She held the Titans scoreless in the first two innings, but was replaced by Jocelyn Forest at the start of the third. Forest (22-12) picked up the victory, giving up two hits in five innings.

The Bears added another run in the fifth. A bunt that went for a hit, a walk and a wild pitch set up Iancin’s run-scoring hit and produced her third RBI of the game. Another walk loaded the bases. Christy Robitaille replaced Cox and retired the next two batters, the last on a strikeout.

The Titans cut the lead to a run on Mossadeghi’s two-run shot to left center. Kristy Osborne led off the inning with a hit, but Forest struck out the next two batters before the homer.

“I never thought we were out of it when we were down three runs,” Gromacki said. “We’ve made some good comebacks before this season. We battled them the whole way this time.”

In the UCLA regional:

UCLA 10, Long Beach State 4--Crissy Buck’s first home run of the season sparked an 11-hit attack as UCLA (41-11-1) eliminated Long Beach State (39-23).

In the Norman, Okla. regional:

Oklahoma 2, Cal State Northridge 1--Christy Ring, a former Calvary Chapel standout, had a two-run single in the fourth inning as the fourth-ranked Sooners eliminated Cal State Northridge (26-26-1).