Toros Flash Own Lightning in 1-0 Win Over Sonoma State at NCAA Regional

Box Score

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Thirty minutes after a bolt of lightning struck eight miles away from Karl Brooks Field, the site of the NCAA West 2 Regional where No. 6 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills and No. 3 seed Sonoma State were engaged in a scoreless game one of the sub-regional at host Dixie State, redshirt freshman and pinch-hitter Jasmine Ruiz (pictured) struck her own type of lightning with a runner on third and one out when play resumed, sending a 1-2 offering from CCAA Pitcher of the Year Samantha Lipperd into deep left field to bring home Christina Chavez with the go-ahead run as the Toros took a 1-0 win over the Seawolves to advance into the winner's bracket, tomorrow at 10 am PST.

With the win, CSUDH snaps a two-game skid to improve to 35-21 on the year, and will face the Red Storm after DSC took a 14-5 win over Hawai'i-Hilo in game two.

Sonoma State, meanwhile, falls to 36-20, and will battle UHH in an elimination game at 12:30 pm PST.

With two of the best pitchers in the league and nation set to face off, the pitcher's duel lived up to its billing as neither offense was able to score a run through six innings of play.

Toro Christina Chavez and Seawolf Megan Konieczka provide two-thirds of each team's offense with two hits apiece, including a pair of doubles by Chavez.

In fact, it was her second two-bagger of the game in the 7th that proved the difference as she moved to third on a Daisy Beltran sacrifice bunt, and scored on Ruiz's sacrifice on the fourth pitch she saw from Lipperd, and the first after a 41-minute delay due to the lightning strike.

That proved enough for Jimenez who improved to 25-9 on the year while fanning six to up her CSUDH single-season strikeout record to 208 with at least two games left in an award-winning and record setting career. Lipperd, meanwhile, who along with Jimenez was named an NFCA 1st-team All-Region selection, falls to 22-11 on the year.

The Toros bested DSC 5-4 in the Desert Stinger in the second tournament of the year.

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