SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento State senior Nikki Cinque pitched a three-hit shutout and went 2-for-3 with a career-high four RBIs to lead Sacramento State to an 8-0 victory over Southern Utah in the first round of the Capital Classic Softball Tournament Friday evening at the Sacramento Softball Complex.With the victory, the Hornets have now won eight of their last nine games while improving to 12-10 this season. Sacramento State had its first scheduled game of the tournament against Wisconsin cancelled because of rain. Southern Utah dropped to 2-19 with the loss.
Sacramento State scored one in the first inning, three more in the third and four in the fourth to institute the eight-run mercy rule at the end of five innings. Both Cinque and senior Lindy Winkler hit their first career home runs, a solo shot for Winkler to lead off the fourth, and a three-run bomb from Cinque later in the inning.
The Hornets got their first run on an error scoring Winkler in the first and tacked on three more in the third on an RBI-single from Cinque, a wild pitch scoring freshman Jamie Schloredt and an RBI-single from freshman Rachel Miles.
Cinque improved her record to 6-6 (and a 1.44 ERA) after allowing just three hits with six strikeouts in five innings of work. Bobbi Jo Merrill (1-5) got the loss for Southern Utah, allowing five runs (three earned) and five hits in three innings.
Sacramento State will return to action tomorrow at the Capital Classic for games against Syracuse (12:30 p.m.) and Miami University (5:30 p.m.). The tournament lost eight games (all four at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.) today because of unplayable fields due to bad weather.
