CAOAGAN’S WALKOFF RBI-SINGLE HIGHLIGHTS TRIPLEHEADER WITH LOYOLA MARYMOUNT

4/15/2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento State erased a two-run deficit in the bottom of the 12th inning, capped by a walkoff RBI-single from junior Teri Ann Caoagan, to lift the Hornets to a 5-4 victory over Loyola Marymount in the third game of a Pacific Coast Softball Conference tripleheader Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium.

Loyola Marymount squeaked out a 4-3 victory in the first game, and a 7-5 win in the second game.

The two teams played three games today after yesterday’s scheduled doubleheader was postponed because of rain. They will close out the four-game series tomorrow (Monday, April 16) with a single game at 12:30 p.m. Prior to yesterday’s rains, the series was supposed to consist of doubleheaders being played both days this weekend.

Sacramento State moved its record to 11-28 overall and 2-4 in the PCSC. Loyola Marymount is now 32-16 overall and 5-2 in the conference.

Both Sacramento State’s Kayla Meeks and Loyola Marymount’s Melissa Dykema went the distance in the first and third games of the tripleheader. In fact, Dykema combined to throw 328 pitches in both games while Meeks threw 223 pitches. The three games combined to last more than seven hours (7:03) at a sunny and extremely windy Shea Stadium.

In the nightcap, Loyola Marymount broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 12th inning with two runs. Sacramento State, however, answered with four straight hits in the bottom of the inning to cap a game that lasted over three hours.

Due to the international tiebreaker rule that took effect in the 10th inning, the Hornets placed Jamie Schloredt at second base to start the 12th. Meeks then followed with a single that moved Schloredt to third. Pinch hitter Amy Jo McKenzie followed with an RBI-single that scored Schloredt and moved Meeks to second. Junior Sherry Clark then doubled home Meeks, and the Hornets had runners at second and third with no outs. Caoagan then came through with a single to center field which scored McKenzie with the game-winning run.

Five different Hornets had multiple-hit games, including junior Amy Tompkins (3-for-6), Meeks (2-for-5), Andrea Sherrill (2-for-4 with an RBI), Clark (2-for-6 with an RBI) and Caoagan (2-for-6 with an RBI).

Meeks (7-11) went all 12 innings (140 pitches) to pick up her seventh victory of the season. Dykema dropped to 19-7, after allowing five runs and 13 hits in 11.0 innings. For Meeks, today’s tripleheader had extra meaning as she played for Loyola Marymount in 2005 before deciding to transfer and redshirt last season.

In the first game of the day, Loyola Marymount scored four runs in the fifth inning to overcome a 3-0 deficit and eventually pull out the 4-3 victory. Sacramento State, which loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but could not score, had 11 hits and left 12 runners on base against Dykema.

The Hornets picked up single runs in the first, second and fourth innings on an RBI-double from Schloredt, an error scoring Melissa Cross and an RBI-single from Keri Elias, respectively.

After allowing just one hit through the first four innings of the game, Meeks got into trouble in the fifth. In fact, LMU combined for four runs and six hits in the inning and took advantage of a Hornet error. All six hits in the inning were singles, including RBIs from Chelsie Tysdal, Megan Ackerman and MiaSarah Cesena.

In the Hornets’ seventh inning, singles from Rachel Miles and McKenzie, and a walk to Sherrill loaded the bases with one out. However, Dykema struck out Cross and got Hilary Johnson to ground out and end the game.

Dykema got the win despite allowing three runs and 11 hits over seven innings. Meeks picked up the loss, allowing four runs and eight hits over six innings. All nine Hornet starters in the game had at least one hit, including two each from Tompkins and Elias.

In the second game, the Lions took advantage of numerous wind-aided hits and three Hornet errors. LMU finished the game with seven runs and eight hits, and only three of the runs were earned. Sacramento state committed a combined three errors over the first three innings, leading to an unearned run in the second and three more unearned runs in the third.

The Lions added another three spot in the fourth inning to take a commanding 7-2 lead. Sacramento State clawed back with two in the sixth and one in the seventh, and had the tying run at bat in the bottom of the seventh, but LMU starter Tiffany Pagano got Caoagan to ground out and end the game.

The Hornets had five runs and eight hits in the game, including two hits each from Whitney Loomis (2-for-3 with two RBIs) and Schloredt (2-for-3 with an RBI). Clark had a double and an RBI in the sixth inning. Clark’s ball hit high off the top of the wall, and would have easily cleared the fence for a home run had a strong wind blowing in from left field not knocked it down.

Pagano (13-8) got the win, allowing five runs and eight hits over seven innings. In just her third start of the season, Sacramento State senior Jennifer Fryou (0-3) picked up the loss, allowing seven runs (only three earned) and eight hits over four innings. Making her first appearance since the middle of March, Hornet freshman Brittani Clifford pitched two hitless innings of relief to keep the Hornets in the game.

Both Tompkins and Clark finished the tripleheader with a .429 average, as Tompkins went 6-for-14 with four runs scored and two doubles. Loomis led the team with a combined three RBIs over the three games.