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Softball

No. 9 Toros Earn Share of CCAA Regular Season Title After Sweep at CSUSB

Top-seeded CSUDH will face No. 4 seed UCSD in first round of CCAA Tourney at 4:30 pm

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
SAN BERNARDINO -- CCAA Co-Champions!  That's a new name 9th-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills can be called after sweeping Cal State San Bernardino by 3-0 and 5-4 scores this afternoon to claim the regular season CCAA Championship and earning the top seed in the upcoming CCAA Championship Tournament after winning the head-to-head tie-breaker over Co-Champion CS Monterey Bay.  Stephanie Jimenez gutted out the two wins in the circle to give CSUDH its third CCAA Title and first since 2005.

"I'm really happy for the kids on the team," beams head coach Jim Maier.  "As far as I'm concerned, winning a title that spans an entire season is the hardest thing to do.

"We try to be about consistency, and I think the greatest accomplishment is being able to win over a long haul."

With the top seed, the Toros will face No. 4 seeded UC San Diego in the first game of the tournament, set for 4:30 pm at Arnaiz Stadium in Stockton.

Faced with a magic number of 2 heading into today's regular season finale, CS Monterey Bay did its part to keep the heat on the Toros after sweeping the four-game series at defending NCAA National Champion and 24th-ranked UC San Diego, leaving the Toros no room for error.

The Toros did their part in the opener behind Jimenez, who was pitching her third consecutive game.  The junior held the Yotes to just a pair of hits while CSUDH's offense gave her a 1-0 cushion in the first after a Jessica Hall blast to left field, before adding two insurane runs in the seventh on three hits, with Kaci McGinnis and Khryssi Steele providing the run-scoring tallies.

The nightcap looked to go in the hosts favor after CSUSB took a 4-0 lead after three, including an Alex Mitchell bases-loaded double for three runs in the second.

CSUDH, however, would not go down without a fight, scoring three runs in the fourth on a Christina Chavez RBI base-knock, a McGinnis sacrifice fly and a Yote throwing error, before knotting the game at 4-4 two innings later on a Jimenez sacrifice fly.

That's where the score remained until the top of the seventh when the Toros loaded the bases with none out.

After a pitching changed looked to get CSUSB out of the jam with Veronica Vazquez lining out to 2B and setting up a potential double play at 1B, an errant throw to first allowed Alyssa Cruz to cross the plate for the go-ahead run, and CSUDH's first lead of the game.

CSUSB threatened in their at-bat after a lead-off single, but a line out resulted in a double play before a pop up to Chavez at shortstop officially cemented the Toros as 2012 CCAA Champions.

Looking forward to Friday's match-up against UC San Diego, a team that took 3-of-4 from the Toros during the regular season, Maier knows it's going to be a battle with all four teams having an equal chance to win.

"It's a crap shoot because all four teams are great and match up pretty well with each other.

"UCSD is great with Camille Gaito, who won an NCAA Title last year, and then you've got CS Monterey Bay that's probably the hottest team right now after sweeping the Tritons, and then Chico State, which threw a perfect game against us."

"Each team is going to face a #1 pitcher in every game, so whichever team gets the best pitching throughout the tournament will survive."

Follow all the CCAA Conference Tournament action here and listen live to all CSUDH games on the Toro Sports Network at www.GoToros.com/live.
 
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Players Mentioned

Jessica Hall

#9 Jessica Hall

3B / 1B
5' 6"
Junior
R/R
Stephanie Jimenez

#17 Stephanie Jimenez

P / 1B
5' 3"
Junior
S/R
Khryssi Steele

#1 Khryssi Steele

UTL
5' 5"
Senior
R/R
Veronica Vazquez

#5 Veronica Vazquez

UTL
5' 6"
Sophomore
R/R
Christina Chavez

#6 Christina Chavez

SS/2B
5' 2"
Junior
R/R
Kaci McGinnis

#16 Kaci McGinnis

C
5' 1"
Freshman
R/R

Players Mentioned

Jessica Hall

#9 Jessica Hall

5' 6"
Junior
R/R
3B / 1B
Stephanie Jimenez

#17 Stephanie Jimenez

5' 3"
Junior
S/R
P / 1B
Khryssi Steele

#1 Khryssi Steele

5' 5"
Senior
R/R
UTL
Veronica Vazquez

#5 Veronica Vazquez

5' 6"
Sophomore
R/R
UTL
Christina Chavez

#6 Christina Chavez

5' 2"
Junior
R/R
SS/2B
Kaci McGinnis

#16 Kaci McGinnis

5' 1"
Freshman
R/R
C