No. 9 Toros End Day One of TOC With Two Wins and a Loss

vs Dixie St | vs W Wash | vs St. Martin's

TURLOCK -- Back in the top 10 in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) poll and boasting the CCAA Pitcher of the Week in junior Lauren Harper, the 9th-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills softball team kicked off the 2012 Tournament of Champions with a 3-1 win over Dixie State and a 3-0 win over Western Washington before falling to St. Martin's 8-0 in five innings to end the day with a 2-1 record.

The Toros now are 33-7 overall.

The Toros benefited from three DSC errors in the game that accounted for all three of their unearned runs in the first three innings of play.

A solo shot by Courtney Sherwin cut into CSUDH's lead, but Harper would be undeterred in winning her 16th game of the year after fanning nine batters without a walk in 102 pitches that included 77 strikes.

Offensively, Stephanie Jimenez and Daisy Beltran poked two hits apiece, while Khryssi Steele cross the plate twice in the win.

The Toros continued their early offense in their second game against WWU, plating the only three runs they would need in the first on three hits and two Viking errors.

That was plenty for stater Stephanie Jimenez, who scattered four hits and fanned six without a walk en route to picking up her 16th win of the year.

Veronica Vazquez tallied two of CSUDH's four hits to lead the offense.

In their final game of the opening day, St. Martin's silenced the hot Toro bats, limiting the high-powered offense to just a single hit on the day. The Saints, meanwhile, got to starter Harper early, tagging the junior for four earned runs and six hits before knocking her from the game in the fifth inning.

Reliever Karen Peterson didn't fare much better, allowing four runs on four hits as SMU mercy run-ruled the Toros after scoring their eighth run in the bottom of the fifth for the win, the first time this year CSUDH has been on the wrong end of the mercy rule.

CSUDH will resume the tournament tomorrow when it faces Cal Baptist in game one at 11 am, weather permitting.

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