May 21, 2000

Box Score

FRESNO - Junior pitcher Nicole DiSalvio tossed a five-hit shutout to lead the Cal softball team to a 2-0 upset over top-seeded and sixth-ranked Fresno State Sunday, sending the Bears to the College World Series for the second consecutive year.

Cal (49-23), which entered the six-team, double-elimination tournament as the third seed, defeated Florida, 2-1, in an earlier elimination game Sunday to set up the Fresno State showdown. The Bears are the sixth seed for the CWS and will play third-seeded Oklahoma in a first-round game in Oklahoma City Thursday.

Against Fresno State, Cal jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Eryn Manahan and Kristen Morley led off with a pair of infield singles. One out later, Veronica Nelson hit an apparent double-play grounder to shortstop, but Morley's hard slide into second base caused a throwing error by Lovie Jung, allowing Manahan to come around for the score.

Cal added its second run in the fifth inning. The Bears started their rally when Paige Bowie singled to left. Amber Phillips walked and Manahan hit into a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners. Morley then chopped an infield single to shortstop with Bowie scoring on the play.

DiSalvio struck out three and did not walk a batter to improve her record to 17-10. In the seventh and final inning, she allowed an infield single with one out. However, DiSalvio coaxed Alicia Dowland to fly out to right for the second out and got Pam West to line out to second base to end the game.

"This was probably the biggest win in the history of Cal softball because it means this is the first team at Cal to get to the World Series in back-to-back years," said head coach Diane Ninemire. "Nicole DiSalvio, in a championship game, pitched wonderfully, and we made the defensive plays behind her to make it stand up."

Bowie was voted Most Outstanding Player of the regional, while pitcher Jocelyn Forest, second baseman Lisa Iancin and DiSalvio were also named to the regional all-tournament team.

Earlier in the day, Forest scattered five hits and Cal took advantage of several Florida miscues in the field as the Bears eliminated the Gators, 2-1.

Florida broke on top, 1-0, in the top of the third inning. Andrea Zimbardi led off with a walk, but was erased on a failed sacrifice bunt by Jenn Cordero. However, Lora Pinkerton followed with a single to right and Cordero advanced to third on a fielding error by Bowie. Nicole Kreipl then brought home the run with an RBI single to center.

Cal, though, responded in the bottom of the third with two runs off three Florida errors. Bowie led off with a double and scored when first baseman Emily Merino misfired to first on Courtney Scott's sacrifice attempt. After a wild pitch moved Scott to second, she scored when shortstop Jenn Mossadeghi mishandled a grounder by Morley, then threw wildly home.

Forest, who upped her record to 23-13 with her third victory in the regional, struck out three and retired the last seven batters of the game.

NCAA Regional Softball Results
Fresno, CA
Fresno State	000	000	0 - 0  5  1
California	100	010	X - 2  4  1
Scott and West. DiSalvio and Scott. 2B - Scott (F). W - DiSalvio 17-10. L - Scott 33-5.

Florida		001	000	0 - 1  5  4
California	002	000	X - 2  2  1
Dieter and Zimbardi. Forest and Scott. 2B - Bowie (C). W - Forest 23-13. L - Dieter 20-16.

Records:
California	48-23
Florida		46-30
Fresno State	49-23