SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento State concluded the 2003 season by splitting a Pacific Coast Softball Conference doubleheader with San Diego Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium. After losing game one to the Toreros, 2-0, the Hornets came back in game two to post a 7-1 victory.With the split, Sacramento State finished the season with a 30-26 overall record and a 9-9 mark in the PCSC. The 30-26 record was the Hornets'' best mark since the 1997 squad posted a 32-24-1 record. Sacramento State set team Div. I single-season records in triples (17), sacrifices (95) and hit-by-pitches (27), and posted a program-record 10-game winning streak earlier in the year.
San Diego concludes the season with a 8-40 overall record and a 3-15 mark in the PCSC. The two teams were supposed to play a four-game series, but yesterday''s doubleheader was cancelled due to rain. Those two games will not be made up because they will have no effect on first place in the conference standings.
In the second game of the day, all but two Hornet starters collected at least one hit as Sacramento State pounded out seven runs and 10 hits. Sophomore Erin Coyne (2-for-4 with two RBIs), junior Amanda Moreland (2-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBIs) and freshman Britany Crine (2-for-3 with a run) each had multiple-hit games. Junior Nicole Deatherage finished with two RBIs as the Hornets posted three runs in the first inning, one in the second and three more in the seventh.
Sacramento State''s three first-inning runs came on a Coyne RBI-single, a Moreland RBI-double and a sacrifice fly from Deatherage. After San Diego scored a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI-double from Sara Mason, the Hornets added another run in the second on an Amber Dragomir RBI-single.
Like the first inning, Coyne, Moreland and Deatherage each accounted for RBIs in the seventh inning, highlighted by Moreland''s RBI-triple that hit the top of the right-field fence. In the final game of her career, senior Gina Steenburgen (4-1) picked up the win, allowing just one run and five hits in seven innings. Steenburgen finished the season with a team-best 1.98 ERA and her 271.0 career innings pitched is the eighth-best mark in Sacramento State Div. I single-season history.
Erin Harmonson (4-16) got the loss for San Diego, allowing seven runs (six earned) and 10 hits in seven innings. Gina McFarland finished with two hits to lead the Toreros'' offensive attack.
In the opener, McFarland pitched her first shutout of the season, allowing seven hits and walking none as she improved her record to 4-15. McFarland did not allow a Hornet runner past second base as she faced just five batters over the minimum. San Diego scored the game''s only runs in the third inning on a two-run double from Desi Collo.
Sacramento State starter Deatherage retired the final 13 batters of the game in succession, but still picked up the loss. Deatherage, who finished the year with a 13-12 record, allowed just two runs and two hits while striking out eight over seven innings. Freshman Lindy Winkler was the only Hornet with a multiple-hit game as she finished 2-for-3 with a stolen base.
Despite being a freshman, Winkler finished the season with a team-best .330 batting average while setting Sacramento State Div. I single-season records in at-bats (200), runs (40) and triples (seven). She was just two hits (66) and two stolen bases (nine) shy of tying those single-season records.
Senior Jillian Bivert finishes her career ranked among the top five in numerous Sacramento State Div. I career categories including first with 201 hits and 93 RBIs, second in home runs (10) and putouts (1,162), third in at-bats (648), batting average (.310) and walks (55), and fourth in runs (83) and doubles (30).
The Hornets return all but two players (Steenburgen and Bivert) for the 2004 season.