Junior Nicole Deatherage

With the wins, Sacramento State improved its record to 16-6 overall and 2-2 in the tournament. The Hornets lost to 24th-ranked Minnesota and eighth-ranked Cal in the first day of the tournament Friday night. Sacramento State is now 4-1 against San Jose State this season, and is 11-2 at neutral sites. The Hornets will return to action tomorrow (Sunday, March 8) for the third and final day of the tournament. The team''s opponent(s) and time(s) will be decided later today.

In the Hornets'' victory over San Jose State (6-14), junior Nicole Deatherage threw a one-hit shutout as the right-hander faced the minimum amount of batters through five innings (15) before the Spartans'' Veronica Ramos opened the sixth with a single. Deatherage (7-3) did not allow a runner past second base during the entire game as she faced just two batters over the minimum. She retired the side in order in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings. The victory marked her second shutout of the season as she finished the contest with six strikeouts.

After Deatherage helped her own cause with an RBI-single in the first inning, sophomore Erin Coyne added to the Hornet lead with a three-run home run in the third inning. The blast was Coyne''s second of the season as the catcher now leads the team with 21 RBIs and six multiple-RBI games. Deatherage was perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with an RBI and a walk.

San Jose State''s Courtney Lewis (0-1) picked up the loss for the Spartans, allowing four runs (two earned) and four hits in seven innings of work.

In the Hornets'' victory over Virginia Tech, Sacramento State scored in every inning but the fifth and the seventh as the team finished the contest with seven runs, its second-best output of the season. The Hornets scored one run in each of the first four innings and three more in the sixth to open up a 7-1 lead. Virgina Tech, however, scored four runs during the final two innings to make the game interesting.

All but one Sacramento State starter had at least one hit, including two from both senior Jillian Bivert and junior Amber Dragomir. Bivert had two doubles and freshman Lindy Winkler tallied her fifth triple of the season, one shy of Sacramento State''s Div. I single-season record. The Hornets successfully stole three bases (one each from Stephanie Lockhart, Whitnie Darvell and Dragomir) and touched Hokie starter Rachel Pacheco (2-4) for seven runs (five runs) and 10 hits in seven innings.

Winkler finished with two runs and her two-run triple in the sixth inning proved to the game-winning RBIs. Bivert, Lockhart and Amy Walter each had an RBI while Bivert reached base safely in three of four plate appearances (2-for-3 with a walk). Virginia Tech (3-8) chased Hornet starter Brianne Ferguson in the sixth inning after she gave up three runs, but reliever Gina Steenburgen pitched the final 1.1 innings to gain her first save in three years. Ferguson (6-2) got the win, allowing four runs (three earned) and seven hits in 5.2 innings.

Darvell has started each of the last two games at second base after Deatherage and Amy Hillel had combined to start the first 20 games of the season at second.