The Hornets opened play on Sunday with an 8-1 victory over St. Francis before coming back later in the day to knock off Colorado State in eight innings, 2-1.

Combined with yesterday’s wins over Nevada and North Dakota State, Sacramento State finished the rain-shortened tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. The Hornets have now won six straight and seven of their last nine to improve to 10-9 overall this season. With the losses, Colorado State dropped to 15-7 and St. Francis is now 0-10.

Sacramento State was one of three teams to finish the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record, joining seventh-ranked Cal and 11th-ranked Arizona State. The Sun Devils were crowned tournament champions by virtue of allowing just one run during the entire tournament.

Winkler, who had two hits in each game of today’s doubleheader, improved her hitting streak to 10 games (one shy of her career high) and her season batting average to .339. During the 10-game streak, Winkler is batting .424 (14-for-33) with a .500 on-base percentage.

In today’s first game against St. Francis, the Hornets recorded a season-high tying 12 hits, including a career-high 4-for-4 performance from sophomore Hilary Johnson. Hornet junior Jennifer Fryou (1-0) picked up her first victory of the season, allowing just three hits and one unearned run with a career-high 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work. Fryou has now allowed just one earned run in 11.1 innings this season, dropping her ERA to 0.62.

The Hornets had little trouble with the Terriers, scoring two runs in the first and second innings, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth. The highlight of Sacramento State’s scoring came in the fourth inning when senior Gloria Toledo homered for the second-straight day, this time a three-run bomb that put the game out of reach.

Johnson, who is now hitting a team-high .373 this season, had RBI-singles in the first and fifth innings. The Seaside, Calif., native also scored two runs to go along with her four hits.

Both of Winkler’s hits in the game were doubles. Sophomore Amy Tompkins finished 2-for-3 with a run, and junior Ashley Dawson had two hits, a run and an RBI to round out the four Hornets with multiple-hit games.

In the game against Colorado State, senior Nikki Cinque’s RBI-double scoring pinch runner Katie Rhoe in the top of the eighth proved to be the game-winning hit as Sacramento State won its first extra-inning game of the season.

Cinque also performed well on the mound, allowing the Rams seven hits and one run over seven innings. Cinque, who struck out a career-high tying nine batters, improved to 5-5 and has won each of her last three decisions. Colorado State stranded 13 runners over eight innings as Cinque scattered seven hits and five walks. The Rams left at least two runners on base in the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

The Hornets got their first run of the game in the third inning after freshman catcher Jamie Schloredt singled home Tompkins. Colorado State tied the game in the fifth on an RBI-single from Jessi Strickland.

Strickland (6-6) picked up the loss for Colorado State, allowing seven hits and two runs over eight innings. Winkler finished the game 2-for-2 with a walk, and Cinque went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Sacramento State junior Amy Jo McKenzie, who had a double against Colorado State, had her career-high hitting streak snapped at seven games against St. Francis after flying out in a pinch-hitting appearance.

Sacramento State returns to action on Wednesday, March 15, in a tuneup for next weekend’s Capital Classic Tournament. The Hornets will host Iowa for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Iowa is currently receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA top 25.