Turlock, CA — Freshman Michelle Medina (Lakewood, CA/St. Joseph HS) made her only hit an emphatic one as her walk off 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th inning gave Cal State Dominguez Hills a thrilling 6-5 win over Grand Canyon in CSUDH's first game, one contest before Western Oregon used a 3-run 2nd and 4-run 5th to take a 7-4 win over CSUDH in the nightcap. With the split, the Toros finished the tournament with a 4-3 record, and return to CCAA Conference action this week with a 20-18 mark.
The Toros spotted GCU a 5-0 lead heading into their 5th inning at-bat when Jodi Nakawatase (Long Beach, CA/Millikan HS) and Bri Mahr (Fullerton, CA/Cypress JC) drove home a combined three runs with RBI knocks to cut the lead to 5-3, setting up Medina's late-inning heroics.
In their final at-bat, Nakawatase began the rally with a solo shot over the left field wall to lead off the inning, prompting an Antelope pitching change. GCU's answer, however, proved no relief at all as Jennifer Frazier (Buena Park, CA/Kennedy HS) reached on a fielder's choice three batters later, and Medina brought her home with her 3rd home run of the year, her ball just clearing the leaping center fielder's glove by an inch.
The freshman also earned the win in the circle, tossing 3.0 innings of 3-hit, no run ball, fanning three against just one walk.
In the late game against WOU, the Wolves struck first with three runs in the 2nd inning, and four in the 5th after CSUDH put up its first run in the 4th frame. CSUDH, however, would mount a rally in the 6th with three runs, the big blows coming on a Katie Jordan (Huntington Beach, CA/Marina HS) 2RBI single, and a Nakawatase RBI base-knock to left.
That would be too little, too late, however as the Toros would go quiety in the 7th to finish the tournament with a 4-3 mark. Against WOU, Medina would throw just 3.2 innings, allowing three earned runs in the loss.
CSUDH returns to CCAA Conference action this week with their final regular season homestand of the year, hosting Sonoma State on both Thursday, April 5, and Friday, April 6, with first pitch of both twinbills set for 1:00 pm on Toro Diamond.
