CARSON – In the final game of the CCAA Softball Tournament Championship, junior
Nayah Pola belted a walk-off 3-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Cal State Dominguez Hills the program's first-ever CCAA Tournament Championship in a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed Chico State after the Toros forced the "if necessary" contest with an 8-5, 9-inning win in the early game.
In that contest, Chico State took the lead in the first inning, but the Toros quickly answered back in the second with a smash from
Kaylee Hull to bring the game to a 1-1 tie.
After the Wildcats took a lead 4-2 in the fourth inning, the Toros took the lead back in the 7th thanks to a double from Hull for two RBI. The Wildcats once again brought the game to a tie after a single to left field brought a runner home, taking the score to 5-5.
In the 9th inning,
Alex Davis hit a home run for the lead followed by an RBI single to second base by
Raquel Jaime and single to shortstop by Hull for the eventual win 8-5, forcing a second and final game for the CCAA Softball Tournament Championship.
In the championship game, a single to right center for an RBI put Chico State on the board, 1-0. In the third inning,
Jay Ross hit a single to right center to bring
Sydney Diaz across the plate, tying the game 1-1. The game would continue to go into extended innings until Pola hit her first home run on the season for the walk-off victory to make the Toros the 2023 CCAA Softball Tournament Champions.
With their tournament performance,
Alani Nguyen, Pola, Hull, and Jaime were named to the CCAA All-Tournament team along with
Alyssa Olague, who was named the CCAA All-Tournament Most Valuable Player.
CSUDH looks ahead to the NCAA West Region Championships May, 11
th-13
th, as their seed will be announced Monday morning. The selection show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.
About Cal State Dominguez Hills Athletics
The Toros are proud to be a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competing at the Division II level, bringing excitement and tradition to the campus through 10 different sports (4 Men's, 6 Women's). The program boasts 4 NCAA Championships, 2 NAIA National Titles, 11 NCAA West Region crowns and 36 CCAA Championships. CSUDH is one of 12 universities that competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), the most prominent Division II conference in the nation with 155 NCAA National Championships, far more than any other conference in the nation.
